One of the few policies that Bill Clinton pushed with which I agreed was free trade. Unfortunately, it sounds like his wife has abandoned it:

Mrs. Clinton's decision to make Mr. Gephardt an official member of her economic team is a blunt repudiation of her husband's strategy from 1992, when he won the White House in part by distancing himself from unions and protectionist elements in the Democratic base.

There's always been a tension between the true Democrat liberals, and the forces of protection driven largely by their union constituencies. If support for free trade has collapsed among Dems, and they get into power, it will be very bad news for not just the US, but potentially devastating for the world economy, particularly in the most vulnerable and poorest countries, still struggling to develop.

Hillary's statist politics make her the ultimate high-maintenance woman.

Do you mean, it takes a state to maintain Hillary?

but also requiring that there be a proper observance and a concern about labor and environmental rights in those treaties.

While I would applaud someone paying attention to these things, those two will potentially kill any trade agreement. This will be a hard sell, even IF they can get Bill to support it. I never liked him as president, but I will agree that he can speak very well. I wonder if the Clinton camp can find a way to muzzle how he feels on an issue and to use his ability to speak to support that same issue to forward Hilary's campaign.

In terms of environmental requirements, I'm not sure what the free traders think, but it would be nice to stop China from poisoning us. Or else, have the vile MSM do it for us. All we need is to label every food item with the country of origin and watch Chinese food exports abandon supermarket shelves. It could be argued that China is responsible for a much greater aggregate shortening of the American lifespan than terrorism. Plus it makes a lot of sense to eat from sources as close to home as possible.

All we need is to label every food item with the country of origin...

That is pretty much done already. Ever take a look at the little stickers on supermarket produce?

...and watch Chinese food exports abandon supermarket shelves

China exports more to Wal*Mart than it does to Russia. Americans aren't going to start spending more on goods to avoid the Made in China label.

It could be argued that China is responsible for a much greater aggregate shortening of the American lifespan

Do a hundred dead dogs signal a reduction in the American lifespan? That must be in the same league as the 15,000 dead residents of Bhopal, India that resulted from American industrial activity.

One could argue that the migration of filthy industrial activity from the U.S. to China might actually improve the quality of American life and environment.

Plus it makes a lot of sense to eat from sources as close to home as possible.

Sure does. Less carbon emissions per unit of delivered food, too. Unless you don't live in the Sunbelt. Then come wintertime you need to consume harvests from somewhere else on the planet.

What we're seeing happen over the last couple of weeks is the export of American rules and regulations to China for consumer protection in the West. Similar to the rule set synchronization that occurred after SARS.

Do a hundred dead dogs signal a reduction in the American lifespan? That must be in the same league as the 15,000 dead residents of Bhopal, India that resulted from American industrial activity.

The poisoning appears to be on the order of several thousand pet deaths, mostly cats. Not Bhopal magnitude obviously. But then we don't want to wait till it is. One wonders how many chancy accidents were ignored by Indian authorities before Bhopal. If they had been as sensitive to health concerns as the US populace and authorities are, perhaps Bhopal would have never happened.