Political analysts called Hillary Clinton's opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) a short-sighted political maneuver likely to give her some support in the Democratic primary but hurt her in the general election, NBC's Peter Alexander reported Thursday.
"Privately, a lot of people say that they don't think that Bernie Sanders is going to be able to knock her [Clinton] off for the nomination," Alexander said. "They think that this is sort of a shortsighted view. Certainly political analysts agree to that right now."
By breaking with Obama on his trade agreement with a number of Asian nations, Clinton is taking a political step to the left. Clinton vocally supported the TPP more than 45 times as secretary of state because she began the initial discussions leading to the negotiated deal.
Now that she opposes it, Clinton is believed to have been pushed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) to appease labor unions. As a result, even those on the far left have accused Clinton of flip-flopping.
"They [analysts] don't think organized labor is as strong in the Democratic party as it was in the past, if this is an effort politically to try to support organized labor," Alexander said.
This is not the first time Clinton has shifted or outright changed her position as a candidate this cycle. The Democratic frontrunner, trying to avoid an upset challenge from the left like in 2007, has switched positions on arctic drilling, immigration, criminal justice reform, Keystone XL, raising the minimum wage, and pumpkin spice lattes. Clinton was opposed to same-sex marriage and supported the Iraq War before she turned on those issues years later.