Good Sign from Obama On Trade

by: David Sirota

Fri Jun 20, 2008 at 22:25


As just a quick follow up to my last few posts on trade and Obama, this story provides some great news: The Obama campaign is using Sherrod Brown as its lead spokesperson on the issue:

In an earlier campaign conference call with reporters, high-profile Obama supporters said Canada and Mexico would be forced to reopen talks on the contentious trade deal because of their dependence on exports to the United States.

"We are the largest market for Canada, by far. We are the largest market for Mexico, by far," said Senator Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat.

"When the president of the United States says 'we are unhappy' with the way this trade agreement works . . . It is clear we are big enough, and strong enough, and important enough, that these negotiations will go forward."

...McCain "should come to Ottawa, Ohio," which lost a television tube manufacturing plant to Mexico almost five years ago because of NAFTA, Brown said. The plant's closure forced 1,100 people out of work and was a "direct outgrowth" of NAFTA, he said.

"This is one issue where John McCain hasn't tried to put distance between himself and George Bush," Brown said. "He continues the same trade policies that have already inflicted so much damage on the heartland of this country."

As readers of this site probably know, Brown is one of America's most outspoken leaders for the fair trade uprising. The fact that the Obama campaign organized a conference call and then asked Brown to use that conference call to hammer John McCain for his NAFTA support is a great sign that Obama could represent a serious departure from the Reagan-Bush-Clinton-Bush legacy pushing lobbyist-written trade policy.
David Sirota :: Good Sign from Obama On Trade

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Good Sign from Obama On Trade | 10 comments
Maybe. (0.00 / 0)
Obama not to be trusted (2.00 / 4)
Yeah, maybe this is a good sign, but then again, maybe it's just Obama's magician act resurfacing again trying to cover his tracks and throw more mixed signals.

From what I've seen over the past couple of months, Obama is not a man of principle or an honest broker trying to bring divergent sides together. He says whatever is politic at the moment for boosting his standing in the polls with whatever voting bloc he is courting.

He lost my trust many moons ago when he backtracked on public statements about renegotiating NAFTA and used back channel messages to reassure Canadian officials that it was just campaign rhetoric.

He's performed so many about faces that we really don't know where he stands on many of the major issues confronting the American people.

Bottom line: He's not to be trusted.


Blind Devotion versus Conditional Support (4.00 / 1)
For the two people who rated my comment above as coming from a "troll" let me say that while I certainly intend to vote for Obama against McCain I am not blindly devoted to his candidacy.

While he brings many positive talents and perspectives to the race, he is not perfect by any means.

His vacillation and about faces on major issues such as trade leave no doubt that he does not stand on principle but bobs and weaves depending on the issue and his standing in the polls with various groups.

For example, his speech to AIPAC was unnecessarily harsh and uncompromising and not at all in line with his professed predilection for bringing all parties together to negotiate rather than shoot their way through their differences.

I attribute his rhetoric to the fact that he was neck and neck with McCain in Florida polls, but I do not excuse it. The Israelis and Palestinians must negotiate an end to their conflicts in a way that protect the security and vital interests of both. That Obama engaged in the same kind of sabre-rattling in his speech on behalf of Israel as have past U.S. leaders does not set the stage for compromise.

So while Obama does have my support in his bid against McCain for the presidency, it is conditional support, not blind devotion. I will speak out against him when he fails to stand on principle, adhere to his promises and articulate his stances in a moderate and constructive manner.  

[ Parent ]
"...the Obama campaign is using Brown..." (4.00 / 1)
to throw sand in our eyes.  Or pixie dust.  Or hope.  Whatever.  He's probably trying to balance out the Fortune magazine interview he gave the other day.  Obama knows that we are so addicted to "hope" that we will ignore the Fortune interview and listen to Sherrod Brown.

"If you want that good feeling that comes from doing things for other people, then you have to pay for it in abuse and misunderstanding..."
Zora Neale Hurston
[ Parent ]
compared to whom exactly? (0.00 / 0)
these are politicians we're talking about, I trust Bernie Sanders, Russ Feingold, and the late Paul Wellstone. but they arent going to win.
[ Parent ]
Yes it is a good sign... (4.00 / 2)
because Brown is a senator from an important state, so Obama will have to at least work with him after the election because of his help now and if he wants help getting his health care bill through th senate.
Sherrod Brown for VP (4.00 / 1)
[ Parent ]
David you are spot on about Sherrod (4.00 / 1)
I hope he will have a place in an Obama administration
Can't wait to see your post about (4.00 / 3)
what kind of sign Obama's support of Hoyer's awful FISA capitulation bill is. My take? Obama just took a crap all over your new progressive movement.
LOL (0.00 / 0)
I thought I was the only one, literally wondering "now what" and stopped posting on a lot of blogs because I'm wondering where did the agenda go.

Well, a good sign today was Obama said he would close the Enron loophole.  Now if that means endorsing Dianne Feinstein's amendment, that's a trojan horse, only affects about 1% of all energy commodity trades.  I don't know the answer to that but this latest "good sign" the first thing that came to my mind was Obama was going to use NAFTA to blast McCain like he did Clinton (which was most assuredly not fair in fact) instead of putting any real focus or promises on what he will do specifically.

NoSlaves.com  


The Economic Populist

[ Parent ]
Good Sign from Obama On Trade | 10 comments
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