President Obama isn’t discussing Hillary Clinton’s opposition on his Trans-Pacific trade deal – even though the full text of the agreement hadn’t been released yet.
“I’d have you direct questions to her,” he said, dismissing the question from the Wall Street Journal’s Carol Lee about Clinton’s dissent. Obama was hosting a joint press conference today at the White House with South Korean president Park Geun-hye.
Obama told reporters not to expect too many comments from him regarding the 2016 candidates, especially from his own party.
“Here’s a general proposition, guys,” he told the reporters. “During the course of what will be a long campaign, I probably won’t be commenting on every single utterance or decision that the various candidates make.”
Obama asserted that it was “natural and proper” for candidate to run on their own presidential platform, and not just every part of his current administration.
“The vision of the Democratic party that I fought for is one that is broadly shared by all the candidates,” he said, pointing out that he agreed with the Democrats running for president “95 percent of the time.”
He defended his trade deal as good for both jobs and the economy, expressing his confidence that “a whole lot of people” in Congress would agree with him it was a good deal.