Obama Ohio campaign literature focuses on NAFTA

[Radical Activist]

FYI. Obama has campaign literature in Ohio that has a top headline about representing working people instead of billionaires. It quotes Hillary speaking in favor of NAFTA and highlights Obama's opposition to NAFTA and similar trade agreements in the future.

This is a potent issue in Ohio and Obama is staking out his position as the fair trade, not free trade, candidate.

[billyoc]

1. Good. Let's hear more of that, please. nt

[dailykoff]

2. Here we go.

That's what it's all about in Ohio.

[babylonsister]

3. Again, proof Obama and his staff are on top of things. Thanks! nt

[Radical Activist]

6. He has a lot of staff in Ohio now.

They moved in over the past week and have offices open. They've also been on TV for about a week.

[babylonsister]

8. I watched local TV tonight, something I don't do often.

I saw about 3-4 Obama ads. On about 2 of them, they were followed up by Clinton ads. It's a fight to the finish, I tell ya!

But the first time I looked at Obama's website, there were no functions within 50 miles. I looked Friday, there were 52. :evilgrin: He's/they are working it!

[ingac70]

4. That's the key to Ohio...

highlight the last Clinton's fuck you to workers.

[Riley133]

5. I heard 3 TV spots in 45 minutes tonight (around newstime) pounding this issue. nt

[XemaSab]

7. Red meat!

:9

[eridani]

9. He used to be all shinyhappy about globalization

Guess being on the same stage with Kucinich and Edwards had some sort of effect, thank heavens.

[Radical Activist]

10. Not in his book or at any time in the past

that I've ever seen. Yeah, I know there's a lot of spin on DU and blogs but there's a lot of bullshit online about Obama.

[Radical Activist]

11. Ohio loves Obama

Lots going on here.

kick

[Iceburg]

12. Priceless:He voted to expand NAFTA to Peru ... he must think the voeters are idiots

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-sirota/breaking-obama-says-he-w_b_67780.html

Obama is the first presidential candidate to officially declare his/her support for the NAFTA expansion moving through the Congress. His announcement is not necessarily surprising, considering he was the keynote speaker at the launch of the Hamilton Project -- a Wall Street front group working to drive a wedge between Democrats and organized labor on globalization issues. His announcement comes just days after a Wall Street Journal poll found strong bipartisan opposition to lobbyist-written NAFTA-style trade policies.

[jasmine621]

15. Voters who only listen to ads are idiots. It works for dittoheads all

across the nation. Hillary was against NAFTA from the beginning, just like Obama was against the Iraq war from the beginning. She won't get any credit for trying to persuade Bill against the legislation but Obama get a lot of credit for not being in the Senate when the IWR vote was taken.

[Radical Activist]

18. Since you're so well versed I'm sure you know the Peru deal differed from NAFTA

by having better labor and environmental protections and involved a much smaller economy.

[TexasObserver]

13. NAFTA kills American jobs, American plants, and American towns

who gave us that?!

[Vinca]

14. Good. NAFTA is killing this country.

My dad was a UAW member and long time GM employee in Ohio and managed to raise a family of 4 kids, buy a house, take family vacations and have a decent quality of life. Now the automakers want to buy everyone out so they can hire slave labor and outsource.

[Iceburg]

16. Funny that Obama would vote to expand NAFTA, then tell the masses he's against it.

[UALRBSofL]

17. Take a look at Obama's voting record

I'm sure Hillary will point out the NAFTA issue with people in Ohio.

[Radical Activist]

19. OK. He voted against CAFTA.

[rinsd]

21. As did Hillary.

Doubt you'll see that on Obama's misleading mailer.

[rinsd]

20. Was the misleading "boon" quote used?

[Radical Activist]

22. What would be misleading about it?

Did she not say it?

[rinsd]

23. Its not a quote. Newsday is claiming the "They didn't correct us" defense.

The Democratic campaign has moved in earnest to Ohio, where times are tough and NAFTA has become a dirty word. In an effort to score points, Barack Obama has been dropping a mail-piece (left) that repeats a charge he has made several other times during the campaign -- that "Hillary Clinton believed NAFTA was 'a boon' to the economy."

This attack has attracted a flurry of attention, from Clinton's campaign and some reporters. As it turns out, the primary source is us. Back in Sept. 2006, an abbreviated chart printed on Newsday's Spin Cycle page compared Hillary with her Democratic US Senate primary challenger Jonathan Tasini on a variety of issues. The issues chart included this:

"FREE TRADE
JONATHAN TASINI: Tasini favors scrapping the Bill Clinton-backed North American Free Trade Agreement, saying it drives down domestic wages.
HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON: Clinton thinks NAFTA has been a boon to the economy, but voted against the Central American-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement, saying it would drive jobs offshore."

Because it's raised questions -- with Clinton criticizing Obama for making "false claims" in the mail piece -- we've looked into the chart. In it, we did not have the Clinton campaign using the word "boon" in describing NAFTA. The word was our characterization of how we best understood her position on NAFTA, based on a review of past stories and her public statements.

Tasini called for scrapping NAFTA in 2006. She did not.

We do not have a direct quote indicating her campaign told us she thought it was good for the economy at that time. Also, for that matter, Clinton's campaign did not contact us to question the item after it appeared in print.

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.

Dan Janison

http://weblogs.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/politics/blog/2008/02/_the_democratic_campaign_has.html

Obama knows this is untrue and continue to use it.

At the same time he considers it unfair for Hillary to use a speech of his from 2005 where he talks about the need to raise the retirement age & lowered benefits for Social Security.

Fake quote vs real quote.

Both campaigns using them to mislead the voter as to the candidate's position.

[Radical Activist]

24. That's not the piece I saw.

The one I saw had a full quote, not just one word quoted. I'm sure there are plenty to choose from.