28 July 2005
Cafta passes
It was a nail biter. As a supporter of free trade, I suppose I am happy. However, seeing Bush fall on his face would've been nice. In the end, though, a Cafta defeat was not really worth the setback it would've dealt to opening up markets and flushing the protectionist bigots out of Congress (and, to clarifiy, most people who voted against Cafta are not protectionist bigots, but most of the Republicans who voted against it are).
Anyway, a few thoughts:
- Bush can claim victory here. But it absolutely shows how far he has fallen. This is a minor accord with a tiny, tiny economic footprint. Back in late 2003, when the negotiations were ending, never would I have EVER thought this would've received much opposition. The fact that the Imperial President himself had to spend over an hour on Capitol Hill yesterday lobbying for this is shocking. Cheney and some other cabinet minions were there throughout the night, essentially promising everything and the kitchen sink to establish free trade with a region that represents less than 1% of our total exports. Not exactly where Bush would like to have had to spend his political capital, huh?
- What's the deal with the compromise that says jeans manufactured in the Cafta countries and sold in the US have to have their pockets made in the US? How the hell is that free trade? That's ridiculous. Bush and Delay were for free trade before they were against it.
- This vote will, in the end, hurt Republicans more than Democrats. All of the "arm twisting" and "bone breaking" that Delay had to do to get this through ending up bringing on board many Republicans whose districts are extremely skeptical of free trade. Though Cafta won't really do anything to harm those districts per se, the perception that it is harmful is there. Combined with Bush's tanking popularity and collapsing domestic agenda, not to mention the Iraqi quagmire, the 2006 mid-terms will be rough on these guys. Watch them get tarred and feathered with this vote. Will Bush be there stumping for them then? Perhaps, but his job approval ratings might be in the 30s by then, and I don't think he'll get too many invitations.
