Refreshing Honesty

Unilateralism would be a new thing (0.00 / 0)

Obama's penchant for reflection and depth of self-knowledge is appealing. I'm not sure that's what the article was meant to highlight.

What caught my eye was this tidbit:

In a press conference in Boston this week, [John McCain] attacked Obama as protectionist: "Senator Obama said that he would unilaterally - unilaterally! - renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, where 33 percent of our trade exists. And you know what message that sends? That no agreement is sacred if someone declares that as president of the United States they would unilaterally renegotiate it."

I can hardly wait for Nina Easton to let us know about John McCain's principled decision to opt back into the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.

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by: Jason Wiener @ Wed Jun 18, 2008 at 21:37:36 PM CDT

Um (0.00 / 0)

I'm not sure that's what the article was meant to highlight.

Yeah, you're right, but that's what struck me about the article, and it's why I decided to post about it.  It is not shocking that campaign rhetoric gets overheated, but it's pretty surprising to see a politician admit that, and acknowledge the role they personally play in that process.  I am not sure what in my post suggested that I thought the article was about Obama's honesty.  

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by: Anna @ Wed Jun 18, 2008 at 22:11:55 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Just riffing (0.00 / 0)

I probably only posted here because I could not locate Ms. Easton's e-mail address to directly ask her to follow up with McCain about ABM. Lords of Google Alerts, hear my cry.

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by: Jason Wiener @ Thu Jun 19, 2008 at 08:59:56 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Just riffing (0.00 / 0)

I probably only posted here because I could not locate Ms. Easton's e-mail address to directly ask her to follow up with McCain about ABM. Lords of Google Alerts, hear my cry.

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by: Jason Wiener @ Thu Jun 19, 2008 at 08:59:59 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

HD 63 (0.00 / 0)

HD 63 could be surprisingly tight also.

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by: steve kelly @ Thu Jun 19, 2008 at 10:11:49 AM CDT

Nader predicted this sellout ... (0.00 / 0)

Varadarajan: Mr. Obama has opposed the North American Free Trade Agreement, and said that he wants it renegotiated; he's chastised the Big Three in Detroit for opposing higher CAFE standards; he emphasizes at every opportunity that he takes no money from lobbyists. What [do you] think of that?

Nader: You see, that's all permissible populist rhetoric that the corporations understand and wink at. Look at who gets the corporate money. Six out of seven industries giving money, through PACs and individual executives, etc., are giving more money to the Democrats than to the Republicans. I mean, John McCain's having trouble raising money, even now.

Obama's taking large money from the securities industry, the health insurance industry . . . I've gotten used to this ritual where the companies give Democrats this leeway, and say, 'Well, Obama's gotta say that stuff, but he'll come around. There's no way he'll touch Nafta or touch the WTO.'"

I see nothing to rejoice about here - Obama did exactly what Nader said he would do - talk tough on NAFTA to us and wink at the corporations. Hillary did the same thing.

By teh way, according to the corportions, NAFTA's been slightly beneficial to us ... likely they are cooking the books. In the meantime, it's been a disaster for Mexicans, who are known to cross the border looking for work since we flooded their markets with our surplus foodstuffs.

A pox ...  

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by: Mark Tokarski @ Thu Jun 19, 2008 at 14:30:57 PM CDT

I knew exactly what he was doing (0.00 / 0)

during the primary regarding NAFTA.  I would like to think that most of the people posting here knew it too.  I never believed a word either one of them said in that regard.  

But I'm glad he was honest about what's happened.  He strikes me now as being pretty thoughtful and self-reflective, which are qualities I really appreciate in a person, much less in a president.  The fact that Obama doesn't seem to buy into the hype surrounding him is something that makes me feel much better about voting for him in November.        

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by: Anna @ Thu Jun 19, 2008 at 16:10:35 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

He's doing the standard Democrat tap dance around corporations ... (0.00 / 0)

Nothing new going on here. Business as usual. The primaries are over now, he's "moving to the center", that is, starting to be a little more honest about his positions.

On the other hand, McCain has gone deep right. What does that say about us?

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by: Mark Tokarski @ Thu Jun 19, 2008 at 17:36:37 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I'm betting it means (0.00 / 0)

McCain will be the oldest man ever yet inaugurated as president of the United States of America...  

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by: jed @ Sat Jun 21, 2008 at 22:29:26 PM CDT