The purpose of the meeting was for Congress to understand what steps the Obama administration was taking to protect American workers from being forced into unfair competition with workers from low wage trading partners. I asked Weisel what I thought was a simple question What is the White House s position on democracy?

I pressed her on how the White House planned to deal with, for example, Vietnam a country where children as young as 14 are forced to work 12 hour days, and where there is no right to free speech, no right to protest, no right to strike, and no freedom of association. Oh, you can have labor rights without democracy, Weisel insisted.