Just two days after Anderson Cooper questioned her policy flip-flops for political gain, Hillary Clinton left the door open to potentially support the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement Thursday.
"I'm against it now, but we'll see whether there is any kind of significant changes," Clinton said to Javier Palomarez in San Antonio for a U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Q&A. The Democratic frontrunner once again maneuvered on the trade agreement she initially supported as secretary of state.
During the Democratic debate, Cooper asked Clinton if she changed her position to match the progressive consensus on the issues.
"Everyone changes over the years but even some Democrats believe you change your positions for political expediency," Cooper said to Clinton. After listing a number of her flip-flops, Cooper asked, "Will you say anything to get elected?"
As secretary of state, Clinton voiced support for the TPP agreement at least 45 times. She once described the deal with a number of Asian nations as "far-reaching," "innovative," "high-quality," and "an exciting opportunity."
In a 2012 speech, Clinton said the TPP, "sets the gold standard in trade agreements to open, free, transparent, fair trade, the kind of environment that has the rule of law and a level playing field."
On October 7, 2015 Clinton wrote, "Based on what I know so far, I can’t support this agreement. The bar here is very high and, based on what I have seen, I don’t believe this agreement has met it."
Bloomberg's Mark Halperin said he did not believe Clinton was giving her actual position on the deal when she announced she opposed it.
Other than TPP, Clinton has been accused of flip-flopping on same-sex marriage, immigration reform, the Iraq War, criminal justice reform, and the Keystone XL pipeline.