Ugh, what a time to have your worst day of the campaign....

No one's above politics.

NAFTA bashing has always been code for *Made in Mexico*.  Unless I've missed a huge part of the debate, I don't generally hear people terribly exercised about nefarious Canadian trade deals.  If there are jobs being outsourced north of the border, you certainly don't hear about it.  It's really always been about those devilishly industrious job-stealing thrifty Mexicans and their damn Spanish accents.  

Indeed, the whole Obama-Canada episode is unfortunate. As Obama has phrased his NAFTA stance, Canada would be largely unaffected.  In the Ohio debate, he advocated renegotiation with stricter labor and environmental standards, backed by the threat of an opt-out. But really, to whom do you think those stricter standards would apply? Canada probably has a better record than we do on most of those regulations.

No, the United States' recent protectionist hyperventilation is aimed in one direction: South.  

With Latino populations upwards of 20% in some states, one way or another, someone's Party is going to pay dearly come November.  I just hope it isn't mine.

As I just said to the last NAFTA post -- do keep in mind that the current Canadian Prime Minister would be a Republican, if he were American.

Obama is a liar.  He's always been a south Chicago politico.  The problem is that he's been able to run as a saint.

"Then he argued that Goolsbee didn't really say anything different than what he (Obama) has been saying on the campaign trail, which is that he supports trade with Mexico and Canada but wants to make sure the agreement is fair to American workers."

This is bunkum. Obama wants to renegotiate environmental and labour standards to protect American workers. But Canada's standards are already as high as, if not higher than, those in the US.

What the Democrats need is an honest discussion about NAFTA, in particular, and free trade, in general. There is this impression that NAFTA has benefited Canada and Mexico at the expense of the US. But this is simply false: all three countries have benefited from NAFTA.

Once again nturner offers a wonderfully objective comment.  "liar" - 'south Chicago politico"  how nice.  You are a fine example of a Hillary supporter.  Just the thoughtful type I've always imagined she wanted to attract.  Thank you for helping to light the way.  

Rezco, Rezco, Rezco.  That's all we'll hear about if Obama goes forward.

Bedfellows in Clinton bashing:

Media, left and right

Obama & supporters

Rush Limbaugh

Ann Coulter (except vs. McCain)

Ken Starr

Karl Rove

Ted Kennedy (Caroline and Shriver are just part of the crowd, as is McCaskell)

Newt Gingrich

Bush & Bush & Bush & Bush and on and on

Pat Oliphant

Cheney

Maureen Dowd

Novak

Rumsfeld

Condi

Ashcroft

Gonzalez

Bill O'Reilly & Keith Olberman

Chris Matthews

Bill Maher

Laura Ingram

Wolfowitz

Pearl

Now even the Canadian embassy has weighed in...with an expression of regret over how the meeting has been portrayed and any allegation that Goolsbee said anything other than what Obama says on the campaign trail.  But of course the Clinton trolls around here will continue to behave as if Obama were sacrificing young maidens at every campaign appearance.  And the Canadian statement will get no play anywhere on TNR.com, I'll betcha.

<i>Unless I've missed a huge part of the debate, I don't generally hear people terribly exercised about nefarious Canadian trade deals.</i>

Well, it's probably not a huge part of the debate unless you live in timber country, but the <a href='www.cbc.ca/.../softwood_lumber'>softwood lumber dispute</a> has been a pretty big deal for a while now.

"Yes we can. We are the change we seek.  The fierce urgency of now. Fired up and ready to go. Hope. Change....blah, blah, blah."

_____________________________

"Barack Obama's threat to withdraw from NAFTA should be viewed as "political positioning," according to a memo written after the U.S. presidential hopeful's senior economic policy adviser met with Canadian officials.

The memo, obtained by the Associated Press, was written by Canadian consulate staffer Joseph DeMora, after a meeting in Chicago last week with Austan Goolsbee and Canadian Consul General Georges Rioux.

"Noting anxiety among many U.S. domestic audiences about the U.S economic outlook, Goolsbee candidly acknowledged the protectionist sentiment that has emerged, particularly in the Midwest, during the primary campaign," the memo said.

"He cautioned that this message should not be taken out of context and should be viewed as more about political positioning than a clear articulation of policy plans."

Goolsbee has disputed the memo's characterization of his comments.

Last week, both Obama and his Democratic rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton, threatened to pull the United States out of the 15-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico unless it's renegotiated.

CTV reported last week that an Obama aide told Canadian officials he wasn't serious considering disrupting the continental trade deal.

The memo is the first evidence of any such discussion to emerge publicly.

The leaked conversations have sparked accusations south of the border that the Conservatives are interfering in the presidential nomination campaign.

"You've got a right-wing government in Canada that is trying to help the Republicans and is out there actively interfering in the campaign," senior Democratic adviser Bob Shrum said on MSNBC's Meet the Press on Sunday night.

On the Canadian Embassy website Thursday, the government denied that conversations took place between Canadian officials and members of any presidential campaign regarding trade. By Monday, that statement was replaced by one that apologized for any confusion DeMora's memo may have caused.

"In the recent report produced by the Consulate General in Chicago, there was no intention to convey, in any way, that Senator Obama and his campaign team were taking a different position in public from views expressed in private, including about NAFTA. We deeply regret any inference that may have been drawn to that effect.

Responding to criticism during question period Monday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he denied "any allegation that this government has attempted to interfere in the American election."

Clinton lambasted her opponent Monday for saying one thing about NAFTA to appease economically depressed Ohio, and then giving Canada — which opposes new trade negotiations — "the old wink-wink."

Both Goolsbee and Obama spokesman Bill Burton dismissed DeMora's 1,300-word memo as an inaccurate characterization of the "introductory meeting" in Chicago.

"It all boils down to a clumsy, inaccurate portrayal of the conversation," Burton said.

Goolsbee said he did make some comments on trade after being invited for a 40-minute tour of the consulate but that any reference to political positioning was DeMora's language — not his.

"I certainly did not use that phrase in any way," he said."

With files from the Associated Press

The real problem for Obama is that his behavior here, and the Goolsbee and the Rezko stories all portray him as disingenuous and manipulative and self-interested. This is coming across to voters as a real peak behind the media curtain into who Obama really is, and it strikes at the very heart of his Axelrod-manufactured image.

Finally, the press is taking off the kid gloves and showing that Obama is nothing more or less than an ordinary politician,  no better or worse a human being than Hillary Clinton or John McCain. GO HILLARY!

ctrogers forgot to mention the most important bedfellows in Clinton bashing, namely, the voters in the past 11 primaries!

Clinton '08 is still the perfect rhyme for Nader '00.

tray tiger - I don't want to bash NAFTA, I want to _fix_ it. I want NAFTA to deliver the benefits that were used to sell it to the public, most important of which is curbing illegal immigration into the US by increasing opportunities and incomes for uneducated rural Mexicans. It has failed, utterly, in this regard. It's broken. Fix it for chrissake.