Fellow Obama supporters: please get the facts right on NAFTA

[Political Heretic]

It is very good that the truth is coming about about the Clinton campaigns own promises on NAFTA that conflict with Hillary's public message.

HOWEVER, this morning I've seen several posters saying things like "It was Clinton not Obama" or "Obama totally cleared, story against him totally false."

I know I won't have any friends for doing this - Obama supporters will say I'm not a real supporter, and hillary supporters will still distrust me because I'm an Obama supporter, but I actually care about the truth, more than I care about blindly following a candidate.

There is a MEMO about the Obama campaign's meeting with the Canadians. It HAPPENED. And in it, the Canadians at least got the impression that Obama's public rhetoric on NAFTA was not the same as his private intentions. READ FOR YOURSELF:



Let's win, but let's do so by being honest even about the mistakes of our candidate's campaign.

[Radical Activist]

1. And Canadian officials now say the memo doesn't reflect what was actually said.

Did you miss that part?

[Political Heretic]

3. I mean come on.... I'm sorry but I trust hard copy more than political denial.

A group denies something happens, then proof comes out that it happens, then they deny it despite the proof. It's hard for me to believe.

But that's probably because I didn't believe for a second either candidate was a populist left as they have been running in the campaign. Still, I have my own reasons for supporting Obama.

[Radical Activist]

6. Conservatives in Canada are interfering with our election.

It seems pretty clear what was happening. Obama has made the same statements for fair trade for many years.

[Political Heretic]

7. Possible... possible....

what a mess.

[Capn Sunshine]

12. Happening....Happening

The RW Gov't of Canada is really unnerved by the anti-NAFTA talk. The powers that be there stand to lose a LOT of money if NAFTA is renegotiated, because NAFTA keeps the unions down.

[Political Heretic]

16. One of the reasons why I wish Obama had chosen three different economic advisors.

I had to get past that when I chose to support him. It's still disappointing, but doesn't change the fact that I think he's the best choice for the White House this year.

[Spazito]

11. The memo was the subjective opinion of a low-level Embassy

employee where upon the Embassy has stated the opinion does not reflect the facts. The memo really isn't the issue, at least it wasn't in the beginning. It was the phone call from the Clinton campaign, as related by the Prime Minister's most senior official, his Chief of Staff:

"Mr. Brodie, apparently seeking to play down the potential impact on Canada, told the reporters the threat was not serious, and that someone from Ms. Clinton's campaign had even contacted Canadian diplomats to tell them not to worry because the NAFTA threats were mostly political posturing."

Mr. Brodie spoke about the Clinton contact NOT any contact with the Obama campaign and yet CTV took Mr. Brodie's comments, put Obama's name in instead of Clinton's in their report. This is CTV's response to questions as to why the substitution:

"There was no explanation last night for why Mr. Brodie was said to have referred to the Clinton campaign but the news report was about the Obama campaign. Robert Hurst, president of CTV News, declined to comment."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080305.wnafta06/BNStory/National/home

[woolldog]

15. When was the memo written?

[Yes We Did]

2. We're not denying that the meeting happened.

But it didn't happen like it was reported, and the Obama camp isn't the ones who told the Canadians to take it "with a grain of salt."

[mmonk]

5. Yes.

That's it. I'm not as much concerned about the memo and anybody's conclusion of it as much as I am it being portrayed that came from Obama while Clinton was clean and honest over this.

[Abacus]

20. Same here

What I found angering was that Clinton was as guilty and likely more so, but she was let completely off the hook.

As for the conversations themselves, assuming they're as the Canadians say, it's just as likely that Clinton and Obama are politically maneuvering the Canadians. The memo states the same things that Barack said during the debate: that he would emphasize labor and environment changes.

Regardless, I guess I don't feel so naïve as to think every campaign promise will be kept, at least by any of the current candidates.

[dbonds]

4. This is exactly what Obama says his policy is.

The memo paints it as a departure, but in his statements in speeches and debates he talks about fixing those exact parts mentioned in that memo. That is exactly what I thought his position was before the memo. I'm not sure why they paint that different than what was said to the US population.

[flpoljunkie]

9. Important point--which the media ignored in a rush to repeat Hillary's accusations!

Truth is they both have said they will not repeal NAFTA, but will seek to renegotiate NAFTA to add labor and environmental protections.

Too bad our feckless media is not in the truth business--but we all know that, don't we?

[IsItJustMe]

8. Good luck with finding the truth in someones impression. You are not doing Obama any favors when

you get your crystal ball out looking for the "truth".

[Political Heretic]

10. It's not a crystal ball when its on paper.

It's also not a surprise.

I said in another thread:

That doesn't suprise me, and it doesn't stop me from supporting Obama, but I also don't want to sweep it under a rug. This is a place where I DISAGREE with Obama - his choice of economic advisors sucks. It just does. It reflects the part of him that is very centrist and mainstream. It's hard to just finish reading Namomi Kline's book and then have one of his top three economic advisors be from the Friedman-style University of Chicago brand of economics, and his other two be neo-liberal centrists.

I have a lot of reasons for supporting Obama, but I did't sell my right to be critical the moment I became a supporter. Knowing these guys and their brand of economics, I'm quite sure the memo speaks for itself, despite canadian denials - they're just unhappy that they got caught.

[thevoiceofreason]

13. The early exchange to this OP is hilarious

Between "Political Heretic" and "Radical Activist"

Priceless!

[Political Heretic]

19. LOL too funny... I didn't even notice.

:D

[NJmaverick]

14. Wasn't it Rove

If you work things right, the truth comes out, after it's important or people are listening?

[featherman]

17. Thanks but what you are missing is that the CTV story

was about Mr. Brodie's comments and somehow "Obama campaign" got substituted for "Clinton campaign" in the reporting. This was regarding contact initiated by the Clinton Campaign with the Canadian Embassy, not the Consulate in Chicago.

The Goolsbee contact initiated by the Canadian Consulate in Chicago and cited in the memo was a SEPARATE incident that got conflated with the CTV story which was about the Brodie comments. The bottom line is not Goolsbee's meeting but how and why CTV substituted Obama for Clinton in the Brodie story.

[Political Heretic]

18. Good point, thank you for the reminder / clarification

Cheers!

[BuyingThyme]

21. ..

[Bread and Circus]

22. Although the memo itself reportedly doesn't accurately reflect what was said.

Just keep that in mind.