Sirota to Hillary: Was Perot right?

[Elwood P Dowd]

http://tradealert.us/news_item.asp?NID=2936738

Was Perot right?

David Sirota

Sunday, November 25, 2007

"Ross Perot was fiercely against NAFTA. Knowing what we know now, was Ross Perot right?"

That's what CNN's Wolf Blitzer asked Hillary Clinton at last week's Democratic presidential debate. It was a straightforward query about a Clinton administration trade policy that polls show the public now hates, and it was appropriately directed to a candidate who has previously praised NAFTA.

In response, Clinton stumbled. First she laughed at Perot, then she joked that "all I can remember from that is a bunch of charts," and then she claimed the whole NAFTA debate "is a vague memory." The behavior showed how politically tone deaf some Democratic leaders are.

To refresh Clinton's "vague memory," let's recall that Perot's anti-NAFTA presidential campaign in 1992 won 19 percent of the presidential vote - the highest total for any third-party candidate since Teddy Roosevelt. That included huge tallies in closely divided regions like the Rocky Mountain West, which Democrats say they need to win in the upcoming election.

A Democrat laughing at Perot on national television is a big mistake. Simply put, it risks alienating the roughly 20 million people who cast their votes for the Texas businessman.

But Clinton's flippant comments and feigned memory lapse about NAFTA were the bigger mistakes in that they insulted the millions of Americans (Perot voters or otherwise) harmed by the trade pact. These are people who have seen their jobs outsourced and paychecks slashed thanks to a trade policy forcing them into a wage-cutting war with oppressed foreign workers.

Why is Clinton desperate to avoid discussing NAFTA? Because she and other congressional Democrats are currently pushing a Peru Free Trade Agreement at the behest of their corporate campaign contributors - an agreement expanding the unpopular NAFTA model. When pressed, Clinton claims she is for a "timeout" from such trade deals - but, as her husband might say, it depends on what the meaning of the word "is" is, because she simultaneously supports the NAFTA expansion.

Of course, this deviousness is precisely why it is worth asking about Perot's predictions: to make sure America has an informed and honest discussion about impending new trade policies before they are enacted.

And so without further ado, let's answer the question Clinton ducked: Was Ross Perot right?

<snip>

Go to the link for the answer.

[Deja Q]

1. Wow. Perot must hate them little brown people too...

What about immigration? In 1993, the Clinton administration pitched NAFTA as "the best hope for reducing illegal immigration." Perot, by contrast, said that after NAFTA depressed Mexican wages, many Mexicans "out of economic necessity" would "consider illegally immigrating into the U.S."

[Auggie]

2. So a vote for Hillary is a vote for multi-national corporations

[mdmc]

5. agreed

[Mojorabbit]

3. He was spot on

It is common sense. I don't know if we will ever come back from the loss of industry.

[nachoproblem]

4. NAFTA seemed a lot more attractive

in the early 90's when we were headed into a huge economic expansion. Most people didn't break it down enough to foresee that the jobs exported would outweigh the investment income benefit for the middle class and below. Perot did, and whether you like him or not he was right. If Hillary did... I guess her concerns were elsewhere.

Oh that silly man with his silly numbers. :eyes: