Hillary Clinton on NAFTA
By SusanUnPC on February 17, 2008 at 12:53 PM in Barack Obama, Economy, Hillary Clinton, NAFTA
UPDATE: Here’s a great new diary that has far more information, “Obama: “I Believe In Free Trade.”
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Since Cee tried to slime Hillary Clinton with another one of Barack Obama’s lies in the thread below, I am compelled to respond. Let’s get the FACTS out. FIRST, there’s Obama’s own stated support for NAFTA: “Associated Press: Obama said the United States should ‘pursue deals such as the North American Free Trade Agreement.” (More below, including links.)
SECOND, there’s history. Hillary Clinton tried valiantly to dissuade her husband, then president, from enacting NAFTA:
Taylor Marsh alerted me to this key item on Clinton’s progressive economics at Crooks & Liars, “Carl Bernstein: Hillary Clinton and NAFTA“:
Bernstein: Hillary Clinton’s economics, the ones she preached to her husband in the White House are much closer to John Edwards than you would think. She argued with Bill Clinton when she was First Lady, her husband, she said ‘Bill, you are doing Republican economics when you are doing NAFTA.’ She was against NAFTA. And if she would somehow come out and tell the real story of what she fought for in the White House and failed in a big argument with her husband she would end up moving much closer to those Edwards followers. (Video at Crooks & Liars)
You’ll never hear this on television, obsessed as the pundits are with snubs, mannerisms and polls, rarely (if ever) talking about issues.
THIRD, Barack Obama has wholly misrepresented Sen. Clinton’s views on NAFTA:
Obama Campaign Continues Dishonest Attacks On Hillary and NAFTA, 2/14/2008 / “In a memo released today from allies, the Obama campaign repeats a charge that’s been ‘widely criticized as bogus’ about Hillary’s position on NAFTA. From the memo”:
As late as September 2006, Senator Clinton touted the President Clinton’s support for NAFTA.
And again:
AS LATE AS SEPTEMBER 2006: Hillary Said NAFTA Was A Victory For President Clinton, Would Lead To An Economic Improvement.
In fact, Hillary didn’t say this in September 2006. The Obama campaign cites a Newsday article that asserts what Hillary “thinks” about NAFTA without any substantiation.
The Obama campaign then cites an article from 12 years ago that also doesn’t quote Hillary and her book, where Hillary mentions NAFTA as something that passed through Congress in 1996. That’s why the Politico called a piece of mail featuring the same claim “bogus” and noted the Obama campaign has failed to produce any evidence that she championed NAFTA.
The Obama campaign fails to mention that he is not calling for the repeal of NAFTA and believes “it’s not realistic to expect to renegotiate NAFTA.” [Crain's Chicago Business, 2/16/04]
Based on his positions in Illinois and the United States Senate, the National Journal concluded that Sen. Obama was “the most likely presidential candidate to support further trade liberalization.” Sen. Obama opposed an amendment that would have prevented the weakening of laws that protect against unfair trade practices. (Hillary supported the amendment.) Sen. Obama also supports fast track authority.
(I can’t place blockquotes within blockquotes in WordPress, but obviously that section just above came from The FACT HUB, an outstanding, factual resource for truthtellers.)
TRUTH TIME! There are Sen. Obama’s OWN misleading campaign statements about NAFTA — as is typical of him, he says ONE thing on the campaign stump to his swooning followers, but quite another on many other occasions again –corrected by the Fact Hub:
Newspapers Reported Obama’s Support of NAFTA, Desire To Pursue Similar Agreements
Associated Press: Obama said the United States should ‘pursue deals such as the North American Free Trade Agreement.’ “Obama said the United State should continue to work with the World Trade Organization and pursue deals such as the North American Free Trade Agreement.” [AP, 9/8/04]
Decatur Herald & Review: ‘Obama said the United States benefits enormously from exports under the WTO and NAFTA.’ “While some people believe NAFTA has been good for U.S. farmers, the trade results could have been better, Keyes said. NAFTA negotiators said the United States might lose manufacturing jobs but would become a service economy, but now those service jobs also are being exported, he said. Obama said the United States benefits enormously from exports under the WTO and NAFTA. He said, at the same time, there must be recognition that the global economy has shifted, and the United States is no longer the dominant economy. ‘We have competition in world trade,’ Obama said. ‘When China devalues its currency 40 percent, we need to bring a complaint before the WTO just as other nations complain about us. If we are to be competitive over the long term, we need free trade but also fair trade.” [Decatur Herald & Review, 9/9/04]
I leave you with this fascinating interview of Sen. Clinton on Bloomberg News — she discusses NAFTA partway through:
For more history — including how John Edwards stood up for workers (I miss him so much in this campaign) — please check out “Edwards, Clinton & Obama: On Economics & Workers [UPDATED x2]” on February 2.
, the basis for the Best Motion Picture Nominee (Golden Globes) starring Brad Pitt.
, the novel by John Le Carre, a new motion picture starring Gary Oldman and Colin Firth.
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