We don’t know this with all certainty yet, but let’s say we can safely assume that fast-track trade negotiating authority is defeated, for now. In this case, I would propose that we celebrate a “National Day of Gloating” for the defeat of fast track.
On Monday night, The Hill reported:
House GOP leaders are punting on voting again on President Obama’s trade agenda, possibly until the end of July.
After Friday’s failed vote to pass aid for workers displaced by trade deals, known as Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA), Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) set up a process allowing the House to conduct a do-over of the vote by Tuesday.
But Obama and GOP leadership aren’t yet in a position where TAA is any more likely to pass. So the House Rules Committee on Monday night attached a provision to a “rule” governing parameters for debate on the intelligence authorization bill that extends the possibility for the chamber to vote on TAA again to July 30.
So: the pro-fast track forces in the House appear to be conceding that they are defeated for now.
As far as I know, the phrase “National Day of Gloating” was coined by Andy Borowitz when people opposed to universal health care failed in their efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act by shutting down the federal government.
We have a moral obligation to celebrate a National Day of Gloating whenever we defeat the 1% politically, because the PR hacks who work for the 1% are constantly droning on to our fellow citizens about how the 1% are politically invincible. Among many examples: The New York Times recently claimed that Bernie Sanders is “unelectable” because he wants to raise taxes on the 1%. Yet a “Democratic insider” says there is a 40 percent chance that Sanders will win the Iowa caucus, and claims that similar assessments among “Democratic insiders” are common.
To counteract the media’s “1% are politically invincible” drone, we constantly have to re-prove to our fellow citizens that the 1% are politically beatable. Hence, the National Day of Gloating is a mitzvah.
An optional AIPAC Defeat Hour of Gloating may be observed by those who care about a diplomatic resolution to the Israel-Palestine conflict: thanks to fast track’s defeat, this legislation promoting illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank was not adopted.
You can thank the House for defeating fast track here.
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