Obama's anti-NAFTA rhetoric (1 Viewer)

[Mr. Sparkle]

So, either he's genuine in his desire to trash our largest trade partner (what happened to repairing our international image?), or he's just another pol saying whatever that day's audience wants to hear.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=4365922&page=1

Either way, it's disappointing, but somewhat amusing.

Of course, not nearly as humorous as Hillary blasting him for not being sincere enough in his anti-NAFTA efforts, as she rips into the treaty she trumpted during her first term as co-president.

Hello?

 

[UncleTrvlingJim]

Yep, I'd much rather focus on this part of Obama than silly stories about his dad being a Muslim or his pastor being tied to Farrakan and whether rejecting and denouncing him is enough.

This is probably one of the bigger issues that will probably keep me from voting for him. I'm a free-trader, although I wouldn't mind seeing some enforcement on keeping the border open both ways...

 

[cruize]

Just when we had hope our current choices for President had to be better than the previous two elections...................

 

[billinms]

Granted this is from a conservative magazine, but I found it interesting none the less.

Team Obama To Canada: Don't Worry, NAFTA Comments are Empty Rhetoric

http://campaignspot.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MmViOTA0MzUyOTc2NjdhMTVmYjBmNGFkMDJiNzdiZDc=

 

[JimEverett]

Granted this is from a conservative magazine, but I found it interesting none the less.


http://campaignspot.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MmViOTA0MzUyOTc2NjdhMTVmYjBmNGFkMDJiNzdiZDc=

approved of the meeting, then Obama should rot in hell.

 

[St.Ryan]

This is what the anti-Obama group should be bringing up.

 

[Saint77]

Nice!

 

[SoonerJim]

USA Today today, and an economic journalist on NPR yesterday said he and Hillary were blowing smoke. they're in Ohio, so anti-NAFTA rhetoric sells.

Barack Hussein Obama, stamping out cynicism everywhere

 

[billinms]

You're not suppose to use his middle name.

 

[dapperdan]

Granted this is from a conservative magazine, but I found it interesting none the less.


http://campaignspot.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MmViOTA0MzUyOTc2NjdhMTVmYjBmNGFkMDJiNzdiZDc=

Am I now expected to put out a similar disclaimer everytime I quote the NY Times?

 

[dapperdan]

The irony is, of course, that the only part of our economy that is currently humming along is...exports. This attack on NAFTA, at this particular point in time in our economic cycle, is not very intelligent. A rather knee-jerk, bow to partisanship politics.

Reworded: "Elect me as President, and I promise to shut down the only part of the economy that is doing well."

 

[SaintsFan11]

To the best I can gather, here is what most likely happened to set off CTV's reporting that the Obama campaign is fudging the truth about its NAFTA intentions. Someone from the Canadian consul general's office in Chicago got to talking with Dr. Austan Goolsbee, he the principle economic adviser to Sen. Obama, and NAFTA came up. Mr. Goolsbee may have warned him that the rhetoric about NAFTA might be amped up and that the policy follow through might not be as drastic as the volume of the rhetoric would indicate. By no means, though, does that mean that Obama isn't serious about renegotiating the labor and environmental provisions of NAFTA -- just that, Goolsbee may well have said, Obama recognizes that the normative case for NAFTA is not as one-sided as general campaign trail bromides make it out to be.

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/

 

[dapperdan]

To the best I can gather, here is what most likely happened to set off CTV's reporting that the Obama campaign is fudging the truth about its NAFTA intentions. Someone from the Canadian consul general's office in Chicago got to talking with Dr. Austan Goolsbee, he the principle economic adviser to Sen. Obama, and NAFTA came up. Mr. Goolsbee may have warned him that the rhetoric about NAFTA might be amped up and that the policy follow through might not be as drastic as the volume of the rhetoric would indicate. By no means, though, does that mean that Obama isn't serious about renegotiating the labor and environmental provisions of NAFTA -- just that, Goolsbee may well have said, Obama recognizes that the normative case for NAFTA is not as one-sided as general campaign trail bromides make it out to be.

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/

This all could, and probably is, true. But what is interesting is the messianic message that comes from Obamamania; that Obama is above partisan politics, the purity of his message. Then comes the reality of the situation, that Obama is forced to talk out of both sides of his mouth to satisfy various constituencies...just like every other politician of my lifetime. He is a walking, talking spin machine. The biggest difference I've seen is that his political machinery around him seems to be very thin skinned, hypersensitive to every and any criticism of Obama. As if he's above the fray, which is, obviously, a complete crock.

There seems to be a real separation between Obama the man, a guy who comes across to me as a very smart, cunning, ambitious guy. But there is clearly a heavy dose of self-righteousness that surrounds his campaign. Personally, I see it as a sort of group narcissism surrounding the campaign. We've had Mr. Smith going to Washington, now we've got Burning Man going to Washington. And it is clearly a vulnerability that can and will be pierced by his political opponent over the course of the summer. It's definitely a flaw. A major flaw in the campaign, though I doubt it is a fatal flaw.

For all intents and purposes, the economy is currently in a recession, and will certainly be in a recession by the time the two parties meet for their conventions this summer. If the Democrats cannot win this election given the unpopular nature of the war in Iraq, given that the economy is in the midst of a recession, then heaven help the Democratic Party. You could prop Bernie up at the mike, pump in some pre-recorded political pap, and win this election with a dead man if you're a decent Democratic operative under these conditions.

 

[blackadder]

The irony is, of course, that the only part of our economy that is currently humming along is...exports. This attack on NAFTA, at this particular point in time in our economic cycle, is not very intelligent. A rather knee-jerk, bow to partisanship politics.

Reworded: "Elect me as President, and I promise to shut down the only part of the economy that is doing well."

How much of that is due to NAFTA and how much is due to the weakest dollar in decades and the burgeoning demand for agricultural commodities in Asia?

I have the feeling you could scrap NAFTA tomorrow and exports are going to remain at near record levels because they are cheap and demographic factors in our largest customers are driving demand.

Surely Mexico and Canada are not driving the export boom on their own?

 

[Saintman2884]

black, Clinton had a good economy going partly because of the Internet boom in the 90's. It was a very calculated move by his campaign to focus on the economy in the 1992 election because it took a crucial element of that year's election to do so. HW Bush had done a good job at liberating Kuwait and avoiding the mistakes his son made now in his tenure, Clinton knew that and focused on the right things. Clinton was in the right place at the right time. He fell into a potentially good situation and ran with it.

But their are not many James Carville's out their these days anymore. Now a days the media plays an even bigger role in who gets elected and candidates have to promise everything to do what the people want to hear.

Obama has the best chance. Sure he may promise a bit too much, but he has I think, the ability to make some inroads on the economy and making some progress in Iraq and foreign affairs