Obama Softens On NAFTA: The Primary Rhetoric Was Overheated

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Barack Obama appears to be amping down on NAFTA, and now says the Democratic presidential primary was "overheated" on the free trade issue. CNNMoney.com has an advance peek at an upcoming Fortune Magazine story that describes the presumptive Democratic presidential as admitting that NAFTA isn't so bad after all. The magazine describes him as backing off a "protectionist tone" adopted last February against Hillary Clinton in the runup to Ohio's March 4 presidential primary. Back then, Obama seemed to be in the camp that contends NAFTA was disastrous for the Midwest's manufacturing economy. Indeed, the page from a mailer he distributed in Ohio (above) says, "Bad trade deals like NAFTA hurt Ohio harder than most states. Only Barack Obama has opposed NAFTA."

Note: The image of the mailer comes from a February post on Jeff Coryell's Ohio Daily Blog.

Hillary Ohio Mailer Attacks Obama: Cites $200,000 Contribution In Illinois Maytag Plant Closing

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- The mailer uses a Chicago Tribune story as its source. It contends Sen. Barack Obama turned his back on union workers in Illinois whose jobs were shipped to Mexico when a Maytag appliance factory was shuttered. The mailer -- which is reprinted above -- arrived with yellow highlighting over the message that reads:

"When a Maytag plant in Obama's home state shut down, shipping jobs to Mexico for cheaper labor and devastating the surrounding community, Barack Obama refused to stand up for union workers.

It was later revealed that a large investor in the company that ran the plant had given nearly $200,000 to Obama's US Senate and presidential campaigns."

A link to the Chicago Tribune story, which appeared in print on Feb. 2, is available here. It is about Lester Crown, an Obama supporter who served on Maytag's board when the company closed a refrigerator plant in Galesburg, Ill. The factory had 1,600 workers with the International Association of Machinists, a union supporting Clinton. Maytag has since been purchased by Whirlpool Corp., which closed its former rival's headquarters in Iowa after the consolidation. The Clinton mailer is designed to play off the concerns of Ohio factory workers in a state where more than 200,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost over the past eight years. The Clinton flier began landing in the mailboxes of union households Saturday. It's the latest jab between Obama and Clinton over NAFTA, although the controversial trade agreement is not directly mentioned. Instead, Clinton contends Obama did nothing to help the workers keep "their jobs here in America."

On Obama's Ohio NAFTA Mailer: Cincy Enquirer Omits Key Details Favoring Hillary

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Today's Cincinnati Enquirer carries a 31-paragraph story called "Clinton Rips Obama." It is the biggest story in the Sunday paper. It is long on political drama, but shallow on crucial detail. Nowhere does the Enquirer story mention that the Long Island tabloid Newsday admitted last week Hillary never used the word "boon" to describe NAFTA. Yet Obama cites Newsday as the source for the quoted "boon." You would not know that from reading today's Enquirer. The Cincinnati newspaper seems to have short-shrifted its readers about a major ongoing development in the Democratic presidential primary.

The Gannett Co. Inc.-owned Enquirer -- which covered Hillary's Cincinnati appearance where she publicly scored Obama for distorting her words -- totally failed to dig into or mention the running back story about 'boon.' But details have been widely reported by Ohio's political bloggers, including the Daily Bellwether, for more than a week, and are available here. The Enquirer's shallow journalism makes it appear Hillary has no evidence on which she can base her counter-punch against Obama. Just two paragraphs are given to the "boon" dispute, and neither specifically mentions that Newsday itself said it had mischaracterized her position. Here's the Enquirer:

"The second mail piece says that Clinton called NAFTA a 'boon' to the economy -- a statement that might hurt her with thousands of Ohio workers who believe their jobs disappeared because of the trade agreement.

"Clinton said she never used the word 'boon' in describing NAFTA, saying that a newspaper mischaracterized her position."

But Newsday had already admitted Obama was "misleading" voters by putting the boon in quotes. Here's what Newsday posted on its Web site:

"Obama's use of the citation in this way does strike us as misleading. The quote marks make it look as if Hillary said 'boon,' not us. It's an example of the kind of slim reeds campaigns use to try to win an office. That said, we should have been clearer."

The New York Times today went deeper than the Enquirer and reported:

"It was not the first time the Clinton campaign had seen the trade flier, which cites a Newsday article that says Mrs. Clinton believed the North American Free Trade Agreement was a 'boon' to the economy. Mrs. Clinton said the newspaper had since corrected the article. (Editors from Newsday responded on its Web site last week, stopping short of a correction but saying, 'Obama's use of the citation in this way strikes us as misleading.')

As the NYT and others noted, the Obama campaign still contends its use of the word 'boon' is proper. Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton said in an e-mail, "Everything in those mailers is completely accurate." Of course, that didn't appear in the Enquirer, either.

Cleveland Fed's 1992 NAFTA Prediction: 'Its Impact Should Be Minimal'

CLEVELAND (TDB) -- Sixteen years later, the Cleveland Fed's prediction looks wrong. In the political realm, NAFTA in 2008 is turning into a deciding force in the presidential race, with Obama using his long-standing skepticism of the trade agreement as a tool to hammer Hillary Clinton. A Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank "economic commentary" published on the eve of the 1992 presidential contest gives a peek back into the era of NAFTA's birth, the era when blue-collar concerns were minimized. The Cleveland Fed's Oct. 15, 1992 report is called "NAFTA and the Midwest," and is available online here.

The Fed said its Economists' Roundtable concluded the trade agreement wouldn't lead to any significant impact on the region:

"Participants were asked to assess how they see the agreement affecting their businesses, with particular emphasis on autos, steel, and electronics/telecommunications -- three industries of great importance to the Midwest econony. In addition, several outside experts were invited to present their insights on the economywide and industry-specific effects of the pact. The group generally agreed that NAFTA would have only a minimal impact on worker displacement."

One thing that hasn't changed. Blue collar workers were suspicious that trade agreements could end up costing their paychecks.

"In the United States, and particularly the Midwest, many workers are concerned that NAFTA may be their ticket to the unemployment line. Participants at the latest meeting of the Fourth Federal Reserve District Roundtable see it another way. While they recognize that reducing trade barriers displaces workers, they generally agree that NAFTA's impact on both job loss and overall benefits would be modest. In their view, the agreement is primarily a means of solidifying rather than inititating the process of opening national borders to trade and investment. The fortunes of particular workers will depend on both the competitiveness of their industries and the skill requirements of the new jobs that will be created."

The big question in 2008: Where are all those new jobs in Ohio that were supposed to be created?

The North American Union: 7 Ohio House Republicans Claim It's For Real

COLUMBUS (TDB) -- A resolution has been filed in the Ohio House by seven GOP lawmakers who want the state on record urging Congress and President Bush to block unification of the United States with Canada and Mexico. The legislators contend an entity called the North American Union is quietly being created to supersede U.S. sovereignty. The NAU has been described as emerging from a government conspiracy that would "integrate" the continent into a single state without meaningful borders.

House Concurrent Resolution 31 specifically warns of a tri-national political and governmental entity. It is sponsored by State Rep. Jim McGregor, R-20, a former Gahanna mayor who also had a long career with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. McGregor has picked up six co-sponsors, and they all seem to share concerns of the John Birch Society and others on the far right that the United States is facing a grave threat. The resolution says the Security and Prosperity Partnership between the three North American neighbors is the stalking horse that will supersede sovereignty:

"Whereas, in meeting Security and Prosperity Partnership initiatives, the security and prosperity officials are examining opportunities to open the borders between the United States, Canada, and Mexico, gradually creating a de factor North American Union; and

"Whereas, the gradual creation of such a North American Union from a merger of the United States, Canada, and Mexico is a direct threat to the Constitution and national independence of the United States and implies an eventual end to national borders within North America . . ."

The John Birch Society is leading a campaign against the North American Union, a campaign that some have dismissed as akin to the so-called black helicopter theories rampant a few years ago. Another proponent is Jerome Corsi, who led the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth in 2004 when they attacked Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry. Corsi sees the North American Union as something similar to the European Union, with the U.S. remaining as a country but with its courts and Congress under a continental parliament. The money in circulation wouldn't be dollars -- some think they would be known as "Ameros."

But if the 7 Ohio House Republicans have their way, this state will help stomp out the conspiracy and save the union.