Kasich Supports the Democrats' TPP; Do You Support the Governor? Poll

WASHINGTON D.C. - Gov. John Kasich promoted the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) during a surprise appearance at a White House Press briefing last week when he also took on partisanship gridlock that has crippled Washington.

Kasich said that while there would be groups negatively impacted by the agreement, the nation as a whole would benefit. He also said there are many nations in Asia, like Vietnam, that are looking to the United States for guidance and leadership in joining the TPP, and in finding independence from China. He hammered home the idea that this issue should transcend partisan politics.

"We cannot afford to lock the doors, lower the blinds, and ignore the rest of the world," he said.

Kasich took a stand against members of his own party, saying members of Congress understood the implications of the TPP but they needed to reflect on the impact of their votes on the issue. He also said that while there are losers in trade, the country needs to have a system in place to train workers for jobs of the future. He said the country is now an idea nation, and business must be driven but innovation. However, the education system is not preparing students for the jobs of today and tomorrow, he said.

"The whole system has broken down. We have an education system that reflects the way we lived 100 years ago. We have a higher education system that costs too much and doesn't appropriately prepare kids with the skills they need. We don't have a job retraining program in this country," he said. "That should come with any trade deal."

He also said he was disturbed by the strong political divide in America and how it has altered the landscape of collaboration among politicians. Kasich said that he doesn't recognize the D.C. anymore because partisanship now trumps the good of the country. In a classic takedown against partisanship, Kasich said:

"I get reactions like, well, you're a Republican, why are you supporting something that the President wants? We cannot get to the point in America that because a Democrat wants something that you happen to agree with, you can't agree with him. There’s plenty of things that I disagree with President Obama on. But the idea that I’m a Republican and, therefore, I can't work with Democrats; or you're a Democrat, and you can't work with Republicans -- how does anybody think that the issues of debt, Social Security, Medicare, health care, any of these issues are going to be resolved when we spend all of our time fighting with one another?"

However, the TPP has come under fire from both Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump, with the latter being extremely vocal in his opposition to the deal. When one of the members of the White House press corp pushed Kasich on the idea that he had been eliminated for the race for President in part because of his support for this deal, Kasich said people in vulnerable communities are looking to scapegoat other nations, like Mexico, for their job loss and other issues.

Kasich also implied strongly that his party needed to abandon its focus on the birther movement and come back to real issues. When asked what he thought about the birther issue, Kasich replied, "I think Bruce Springsteen is happy because 'Born in the U.S.A.' is going to sell a lot more albums, that's as far as I'll go."

Republican party leaders have warned Kasich, and other party opponents of Trump, to fall back into party lines, or potentially suffer the consequences.

“If they’re thinking they’re going to run again some day, I think that we’re going to evaluate … the nomination process,” RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said on CBS’ “Face the Nation." “And I don’t think it’s going to be that easy for them.”

Priebus has reminded the 16 candidates who ran for the Republican nomination that they signed a pledge to support whoever won the bid. Kasich told MSNBC in June that he was likely to break the pledge, joking that people even get divorces.

Image via White House Press Briefings