Obama Pledges To Protect Workers In Economic And Trade Policies

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.laborradio.org/node/7916

The state of Wisconsin has become a major battleground between the two democrats vying for the Presidency. Illinois Senator Barack Obama fired the first salvo on Wednesday. Jesse Russell reports from Wisconsin.

Senator Barack Obama took time to hit back at critics at an auto plant in Janesville Wisconsin on Wednesday. The Illinois Senator currently battling former First Lady Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Presidential nomination laid out his economic plan before members of the United Auto Workers union. He took Clinton head on in his speech criticizing her for supporting President Bill Clinton’s passing of the North American Free Trade Agreement:

: In the years after her husband signed NAFTA, Senator Clinton would go around saying how great it was and how many benefits it would bring. Now that she is running for President she says we need a time out on trade, no one knows when this time out will end…

Obama said that if he is elected President he will not sign a trade agreement unless it offers protections for the environment and U.S. workers. He also vowed to pass a bill he co-authored with Illinois Senator Dick Durbin that would reward companies with tax cuts if they invest in American jobs while ending incentives for companies that do not.

Obama said he recognized that in order for Americans to keep jobs the government needs to invest in workers and infrastructure for the coming era of green jobs.

: If our government is there to support you and give you the assistance you need to retool and transition, then this plant will be here for another hundred years.

The speech came as Obama prepares for the Wisconsin primary on February 19. Clinton will start stumping in Wisconsin on Thursday.

[Joanne98]

1. K&R!

[goodhue]

2. most excellent

eom

[Freida5]

3. Except he stole all his ideas from Hillary and John. Have an original idea already

[papau]

7. true - stolen ideas as an afterthought - does anyone believe him = Medicare option is gone if

Obama gets it because he will trade it away for bipartisanship - saying he had to do so to get something passed.

It is so obvious - yet folks yet folks do not see he is not like the other sellers of "hope" - FDR, JFK, Reagan, Clinton - he has a slogan - only

but America rarely votes against hope - McCain will beat him up on the facts of no experience/achievements that the Dems overlook in their rush to get a commander in chief that will not be able to sell himself as commander in chief in the general - but the hope mantra is powerful

Hillary would easily beat McCain - with Obama it will be close but he might pull it out.

[anigbrowl]

4. This is also a reason I support him.

I believe strongly in free trade. I think that a trade policy which includes awareness of things like worker safety, product safety and the environment, as well as some domestic incentives to create jobs in the USA, is far better than a trade freeze. We need to increase our exports and be competitive in international markets, and it's hard for us to do that if we're not willing to give companies abroad access to our own market. A truly level playing field is one that is based on fair regulation, not a free-for-all.

Clinton's idea of a trade freeze sounds appealing to some but won't help our economy. It's like her proposal of a 5 year freeze on mortgage rates - not really practical and something which will hugely lower confidence in the American economy and deter people from investing here. In addition, the costs her mortgage proposal would simply be passed on to new borrowers, further slowing down the rate of home buying and prolonging the economic slump.

[Omaha Steve]

6. Not free trade, FAIR TRADE!

That's what we need!

[alcibiades_mystery]

5. Kudlow doesn't like that, and some Hillary backers side with Kudlow!

Amazing.