Obama Has Fibbed About NAFTA - Page 2 - Political Forum

Sebelius for VP, not Hillary · #11 (**permalink**) 03-04-2008, 05:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SamInTheSouth

If this truly is a misrepresentation and nothing more than dirty politics (which I'll be more than willing to concede if that's the case), it makes you wonder if this was timed to purposely come out right before the Ohio primary.

Well I guess we should look at the facts. There are several aspects to the story:

* The story initially broke last week and Obama either denied or did not mention any talk between his economic adviser and the Canadian consulate over NAFTA.

* His adviser did have a talk with a Canadian consulate and Obama may or may not have known what he said to them about NAFTA

* It is not known whether the Canadian memo is accurate or not

* The Canadian embassy says that it did not have the intention to convey duplicity in Obama's remarks. This is also open to interpretation. One can SHOW duplicity without intending to, or perhaps they are saying there is no duplicity there. That's open to interpretation and speculation.

Press release from Canada's Embassy:

Embassy Washington

Quote:

The Canadian Embassy and our Consulates General regularly contact those involved in all of the Presidential campaigns and, periodically, report on these contacts to interested officials. 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.

* Lastly, we do know that Hillary has been employing the "kitchen sink" strategy against Obama, criticizing him on his:

* Papers in kindergarten
* Praising Reagan (when Bill did the same thing)
* Criticizing him on experience (when Hillary has little and Bill had little before he ran for President)
* Left the doubt out there that Obama is a Muslim in interviews
* Called Obama someone who changes position, when Hillary changed her position on Iraq
* Criticized Obama for plagiarizing, while she plagiarized from Edwards, her husband and Obama

Sebelius for VP, not Hillary · #12 (**permalink**) 03-04-2008, 05:47 PM

Quote:

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.

Actually if you look at the last line in the Canadian press release:

"We deeply regret any inference that may have been drawn to that effect."

That means that: we regret it if people believe this memo to represent Obama double-dealing with us. I don't see what this can mean but that.

Freedom Rider · #13 (**permalink**) 03-04-2008, 06:10 PM

Here's a link to another webarticle which makes some good points in regards to this flap:

Daily Kos: Canada neocon government scared of Obama?

Charlie_Harper · #14 (**permalink**) 03-04-2008, 06:39 PM

I think part of the reason why some refer to the NAFTA thing as "Barack doulble-talk" is because it is their last ditch effort to attack Obama. His foes are simply grasping at straws here.

francois60 · #15 (**permalink**) 03-04-2008, 07:07 PM

We haven't elected a protectionist President since Hoover. There's a reason for that.

Obama never struck me as a protectionist before he started running for President, and Austan Goolsbee is certainly not a protectionist, nor are any of Obama's other economic advisors.

It's easy to see why people would think he's lying to voters about his views on NAFTA and why this Canada story seems credible. In the end, it's he-said, she-said, so you need to decide who to believe. I believe Canada.

Sebelius for VP, not Hillary · #16 (**permalink**) 03-04-2008, 07:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by francois60

It's easy to see why people would think he's lying to voters about his views on NAFTA and why this Canada story seems credible. In the end, it's he-said, she-said, so you need to decide who to believe. I believe Canada.

If you believe Canada, then you believe that Obama does not have a double standard on NAFTA. From the Canadian embassy:

Embassy Washington

Quote:

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.

Freedom Rider · #17 (**permalink**) 03-04-2008, 07:47 PM

Boy, this whole thing has gotten blown way out of proportion. Goolsbee was essentially taking a walking tour of the Canadian Consulate and having a casual conversation. Goolsbee spent a minute or two responding to a question about Obama's remarks on NAFTA. It wasn't an official meeting on policy by any means. Afterwards a consulate staff member wrote his own impression of what Goolsbee had said, and that's what got leaked.

And Obama has never said that he would repeal NAFTA anyhow, he just said that he'd like to make adjustments to it:

"“I don’t think it is realistic for us to completely repeal NAFTA,” Obama said. “I believe this because over the 10 years or more it’s been in place, now you’ve got so many relationships, so many U.S. businesses with suppliers, etc. that are going back and forth that to actually reverse it would probably result in more jobs losses in the United States than job gains.”
- Obama at a town hall meeting in Ohio

Sebelius for VP, not Hillary · #18 (**permalink**) 03-05-2008, 01:22 PM

Here's something I stumbled across while reading about Super Tuesday II last night:

Obama's grandmother: No more dirty tricks - Barack Obama News - MSNBC.com

Quote:

In recent weeks, two Clinton volunteers in the state of Iowa resigned after forwarding e-mails falsely saying he was a Muslim and a threat to national security.

oneika@hotmail.com · #19 (**permalink**) 03-05-2008, 02:13 PM

Sorry guys i still believe that Obama makes a better candidate to discuss foreign policy and peace agreement with our enemies. We have to face reality and the reality is that outside of America who will (middle east) respect H. Clinton as the president of the United States when they don't even allow their own women into soccer games. Someone please explain to my children that we one people when we are fighting a racial campaign remember the red phone and the white one who you want to answer your call... in other words the majority is bigger than the minority... hey, isn't that what the Iraq's are fighting for their very existence..

oneika@hotmail.com · #20 (**permalink**) 03-05-2008, 02:17 PM

i do agree with you they are trying to use any possible thing against him to make someone with the potential look very bad but we shall prevail