by D. Cupples | In Ohio last Tuesday (Feb 26), Barack Obama told a
debate-audience that he favors opting out of NAFTA if the agreement
isn't re-negotiated so as to help more Americans keep their jobs. The next day, CTV reported:
"Within the last month, a top staff member for Obama's campaign telephoned Michael Wilson, Canada's ambassador to the United States, and warned him that Obama would speak out against NAFTA.... The staff member reassured Wilson that the criticisms would only be campaign rhetoric, and should not be taken at face value."
Initially, the Obama campaign did not directly deny the conversation. After one official at the Canadian Embassy in Washington denied it, the Obama campaign followed suit.
'Nuff said? Not yet.
On Feb 29, CTV re-confirmed its story and named the Obama adviser -- economics professor Austan Goolsbee, and Goolsbee did not outright deny that the conversation had taken place.
A Canadian Consulate staffer had written a 1,300-word memo about the conversation, which took place on February 8. [No Quarter explains why staffers routinely write such memos.] Today, the Associated Press reports:
"The memo is the first documentation to emerge publicly out of the meeting between the adviser, Austan Goolsbee, and officials with the Canadian consulate in Chicago, but Goolsbee said it misinterprets what he told them. The memo was written by Joseph DeMora, who works for the consulate and attended the meeting.
"Goolsbee disputed a section that read:'Noting anxiety among many U.S. domestic audiences about the U.S. economic outlook, Goolsbee candidly acknowledged the protectionist sentiment that has emerged, particularly in the Midwest, during the primary campaign. He cautioned that this messaging should not be taken out of context and should be viewed as more about political positioning than a clear articulation of policy plans.'
"'This thing about "it's more about political positioning than a clear articulation of policy plans," that's this guy's language,' Goolsbee said of DeMora. 'He's not quoting me.'
"'I certainly did not use that phrase in any way,' Goolsbee said." (AP)
Maybe the staffer did fail to accurately paraphrase Goolsbee's words.
Here's the problem: various denials from the Obama campaign and a Canadian official indicated that either the conversation had not taken place or that NAFTA was not discussed. [No Quarter has a timeline of denials about the story.]
The memo (which has been widely circulated within the Canadian governmet) and Goolsbee's response strongly suggest that a conversation did take place and that NAFTA did come up.
On February 29, incidentally, MSNBC seemed to chastise CTV for not letting the story die. It'll be interesting to see how U.S. media covers this story now.
UPDATE: in a rather unaggressive way, MSNBC seems to be defending the Obama camp, accepting as accurate that words of the campaign spokesperson -- including the repeated assertion that any coverage of this issue is just part of Senator Clinton's "kitchen sink" strategy.
UPDATE-2: Yesterday, MSNBC actually reported that Obama had tangled with the press (on NAFTA and Rezko) yet didn't do a good job of answering reporters' questions. MSNBC was much too polite to actually state it that way, but that's the gist. On one hand, it's nice to see MSNBC appearing objective. On the other hand, given how unobjective (downright harsh, one might say) that MSNBC has been toward Hillary Clinton, I expected the network to be similarly harsh toward Obama. Perhaps it's just a matter of time.
Memeorandum has other commentary:
Other BN-Politics Posts:
* Hillary Clinton (Candidates' Positives, Part I)
* Obama: Because I Remember (Candidate Positives, Pt. II)
* Gov. Crist Supports New Primary for Dems
* Penn. Governor Notices Media Bias re: Clinton & Obama
* Amb. Joe Wilson Defends Hillary, Questions Barack's Judgment
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