It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that, for today’s tribunes of the working class, this is not really about trade, or jobs, or wages, but politics — indeed, special-interest politics of a pretty raw variety.

The fast track fight represents something between a do-or-die test of the unions’ residual clout and a golden opportunity for them to unify by exploiting a perennial hot-button issue. The prize is nothing less than power over the post-Obama Democratic Party.

The AFL-CIO has already achieved a lot in that regard, by forcing so many House Democrats to choose labor over a president of their own party. Labor has forced presumptive presidential nominee Hillary Clinton to equivocate on a trade plan she advocated as secretary of state; the unions rolled House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), too, which is no mean feat. It must have been a heady moment for AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka when Pelosi’s caucus received him almost as Obama’s equal last week.

The results for the country are less salutary.