Krugman on the "Rove Doctrine" (or domestic political considerations uber alles in regards to international trade).
He quotes DeLong: "One of Bill Clinton's underappreciated virtues was his considerable idealism when it came to economic policy. The Berkeley economist Brad DeLong lauded Mr. Clinton's "record of being willing to take major political risks in order to do what he thinks is right for the country as far as international economic policy is concerned." What he had in mind was the way Mr. Clinton went out on a limb, defying the polls and reaching across party lines, to pass the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1993, and the even bigger risks he took to rescue Mexico from its financial crisis in 1995. Like Mr. DeLong, I know some of the key players in both of those decisions, and I'm sure that they were taken on the merits: the Clintonites really, truly believed they were doing the right thing.
That scrupulousness continued to the end. If Bill Clinton had given the steel industry the tariffs it wanted, Al Gore would probably be living in the White House...."
So don't blame Nader or the Supreme Court or Gore himself, blame Clinton's idealism!
Peter