Now, I know the primary seems like a hundred years ago--and in "another country" as James Baldwin once said--but Mr Goolsbee, who was then a major economic advisor to Obama, got caught secretly assuring the Canadians that Obama supported "free trade," with its benefits to corporations for abandoning American workers and American industry, with its brutal crackdowns on organizing among foreign workers.
Needless to say, backtracking occurred, Hillary voiced her concern that NAFTA be modified, and it was laid to rest. For then.
It may surprise no cynics to see that it's back. I knew it when Obama nominated Ron Kirk for U.S. Trade Rep, a man with a history of supporting corporate "friendly" deals. But here's where we must step in:
Obama starts new push on trade
Ian Swanson, The Hill, 02/07/10 01:54 PM ET http://thehill.com/...
"The Obama administration is reaching out to business-friendly Democrats to win support for free-trade policies that divide the party....
U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk met members of the business-friendly New Democrats Coalition on Thursday to discuss the trade agenda. The Democrats spoke to Kirk about pending trade deals with South Korea, Colombia and Panama that have stalled in the Democratic-led Congress, according to Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.)Moving any of those deals will be difficult because of opposition in Obama's own party...."
And we better make sure he hears from that opposition!! Please support Public Citizen, whose Lori Wallach writes: "Until the administration implements President Obama's campaign commitments to reform the trade agreements we now have in place, trade agreements that promote offshoring U.S. investment and jobs and flood us with imports, the possible job gains of export promotion will be swamped by the continuing damage of the failed, old trade deals so many Americans despise."www.citizen.org/trade