As President Obama prepares to make his big lame-duck push for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, he's narrowed his sales pitch for the deal down to two basic arguments, and he made both of them during an interview this weekend with CNN.
The first argument the president is making in favor of the TPP is, of course, the idea that it's going to be great for the American economy.
According to him, the TPP will help us write the rules of the Asia-Pacific marketplace for decades to come.
This is the standard argument for the TPP, and it's the most obviously flawed.
Sure,
the TPP "rewrites" the rules, but it only does so in favor of the same multinational corporations that have gotten rich off every so-called trade deal that's been forced on us over the past few decades.
Workers, small businesses, and everyone else who isn't a pharmaceutical executive, fossil fuel baron, or a bankster will be worse off if the TPP is signed into law.
Which is exactly why supporters of the TPP don't just rely on economics arguments to push their case.
They also make a geopolitical argument for the TPP.
According to these supporters, passing this massive 12-nation deal is necessary because it boxes out a resurgent China and preserves American supremacy in the western Pacific, therefore keeping Americans safe at home and abroad.
President Obama made a version of this argument during his
interview with Fareed Zakaria this weekend.
Because Americans have been conditioned by decades of Cold War propaganda about Red China, there are probably a lot of people out there who think this is true.
But don't believe the hype -- the TPP won't keep any America safer.
