Kasich showing his true allegiance.
Not long ago, it may have seemed unimaginable that Ohio Gov. John Kasich would take the podium at the White House to defend one of President Barack Obama’s key priorities.
But then Kasich’s never been one to shy away from poking his finger in the eye of conventional wisdom, sometimes pugnaciously and often gleefully.
So there he was today, feet planted in front of the podium in the White House briefing room, defending a trade deal that he and Obama both argue will help the U.S. economy and create trading key trading alliances with 11 other Pacific Rim countries.
Never mind that both presidential nominees Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have decried the deal, and never mind the fact that Sen. Rob Portman, a former U.S. trade ambassador running for re-election in his state, has also said he won’t vote for it in his current form.
Kasich was not only prepared to defend the deal, he was prepared to campaign for it, sitting with Obama and a bipartisan group as well as writing a stern defense of the trade deal in today’s Wall Street Journal.
“I welcome the fact that people will criticize me for putting my country ahead of my party,” Kasich told CNN political correspondent Dana Bash Thursday night. “It’s time we start doing this in this country.”
He told Bash that he and Obama “have a lot of disagreements, but there are areas where we can agree.”
At the White House, he went further, arguing that “there people in both the House and the Senate who would play pure politics with our future to take care of themselves.”
He said those who do that will leave Washington knowing they did nothing but obstruct. “We’ve gotta get this done,” he said.