Canadian memo.

[Blackflag]

Obama communicates to Canada:

"much of the rhetoric that may be perceived to be protectionist is more reflective of political maneuvering than policy."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080303/ap_on_el_pr/democrats_nafta_excerpts_2

What? A political candidate telling the voters what they want to hear just to get elected? And telling the money people the opposite?

No, that couldn't be. This guy is supposed to be different! He's the "good" politician!

Anybody who falls for this idiot's bullshit deserves what they get. Time to bend over for another four years. Fuck you, clown.

[Nickdfresh]

Um, and you're just assuming all of this is true despite the fact that both Obama and the Canadians denied it?

[LoungeMachine]

If it's on the internets, it's true.....

[WACF]

This is today's headline...this has been in our news for over a week now.

It started on our CTV national news network.

Obama quickly denied it...CTV started to name names and he stopped talking.

Now our Conservatives are being accused of playing with your primaries...only our far left think we are powerfull enough to influence such things.

The one thing that is beyond a doubt...he definitly does not understand NAFTA.
I do believe he is just saying what he needs to at the momment.

http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/story.html?id=402a69b5-4b48-4c76-b61a-e32e59c474a7&k=87165

Harper denies meddling in U.S. presidential primaries

Mike Blanchfield and Sheldon Alberts
Canwest News Service


Monday, March 03, 2008




OTTAWA/DALLAS - Prime Minister Stephen Harper fended off allegations Monday that his government deliberately meddled in the U.S. primaries by trying to undermine Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's stand on the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Despite Harper's attempts at damage control, the controversy spilled over into the politics of both countries Monday. Hillary Clinton, facing a final defeat at Obama's hands, sought to exploit the controversy on the eve of key primaries in Texas and Ohio.

In Ottawa, NDP Leader Jack Layton accused Harper of attempting to damage Obama, the Democratic frontrunner, and called for the firing of a key prime ministerial aide for allegedly leaking a diplomatic memo that suggested the Illinois senator was saying different things in private and in public about NAFTA.

"Instead of sticking his neck out for the Republican party over there, why doesn't he stand up for working families over here?" Layton charged during question period. Harper scoffed at the suggestion that his minority government has that kind of clout south of the 49th parallel.

"This government doesn't claim that kind of power," the prime minister responded. "I certainly deny any allegation that this government has attempted to interfere in the American election." Harper also said that Canada would continue to have a "strong alliance, friendship and partnership" with the U.S. regardless of which of the three remaining frontrunners, which includes Republican John McCain, wins the White House.

Earlier Monday, Clinton demanded Obama answer nagging questions about comments Canada claims were made to diplomats that cast doubt about his opposition to NAFTA. In an internal Canadian memo leaked initially to the Associated Press, and obtained Monday by Canwest News Service, a Chicago-based Canadian diplomat described a Feb. 8 meeting between Austan Goolsbee, Obama's economic adviser, and Georges Rioux, Ottawa's consul general in Chicago.

The memo said Goolsbee told Rioux that Obama's campaign remarks about NAFTA "should not be taken out of context and should be viewed as more about political positioning than a clear articulation of policy plans." Obama said in a Democratic debate last week that, if elected president, he would "use the hammer of a potential opt out as leverage" to negotiate better labour mobility and environmental standards in NAFTA.

According to the Canadian memo, Goolsbee "was frank in saying" that campaign rhetoric "that may be perceived to be protectionist is more reflective of political manoeuvring than policy." One prominent U.S. Democratic strategist, Bob Shrum, has accused the Harper government of "interfering" in U.S. politics to help McCain.

But a Canadian government source, who spoke to Canwest News Service on condition of anonymity, said the memo's release might actually have been "a ham-fisted attempt at damage control" after earlier news reports about the meeting between Goolsbee and Rioux.

Indeed, the memo praises Goolsbee, a University of Chicago economics professor, as "an important adviser whose intellectual prowess is made less intimidating by an approachability, curiousity and youthful enthusiasm."

Liberal trade critic Navdeep Bains said given Harper's tight control on all communications within his government and his fondness for the Republicans, the fact that the memo emerged at all raises questions.

"Things don't leak from this government. I question the timing of the leak and the impact of the leak." Harper's top aides denied Monday that anyone from his office leaked the memo to the U.S. media. Along with Harper himself, they referred to a statement issued by the Canadian Embassy in Washington on Monday that said "we deeply regret any inference" that "Senator Obama and his campaign team were taking a different position in public from views expressed in private, including about NAFTA."

The statement said Canada would "not interfere in this electoral process." But despite the government's attempts to dampen the controversy, International Trade Minister David Emerson maintained his staunch defence of NAFTA on Monday.

"We're not interfering in any democratic process, but you know this is something that affects Canadians deeply. There isn't a Canadian alive that doesn't depend directly or indirectly on the benefit that have occurred from trade and particularly from NAFTA," said Emerson.

The Clinton campaign has dubbed the controversy "NAFTA-gate." Late Monday afternoon, Obama said he didn't understand why the meeting was controversial. "Nobody reached out to the Canadians to try to reassure them.

They reached out, unbeknownst to the rest of us, they reached out to Mr. Goolsbee who provided them with a tangible conversation and repeated what we've said on the campaign trail," Obama said. "Which is that we believe in trade with Canada.

We believe in trade with Mexico. We think the terms of NAFTA have to be altered so that the labor standards and the environmental standards are enforceable. But there's nothing more there." He added: "This notion that Senator Clinton is peddling, that somehow there are contradictions or winks and nods (on NAFTA), has been disputed by all the parties involved."

In her news conference, Clinton said the Canadian memo is more evidence that Obama is saying one thing in public on NAFTA while telling foreign governments something different in private. "I think that after days of denial, the Obama campaign was confronted with a memo of a meeting - it was my understanding - in which there was a discussion of NAFTA. And it raises questions about Senator Obama coming to Ohio and giving speeches about NAFTA and having his chief economic adviser tell the Canadian government that it was just political rhetoric," Clinton said.

"I don't think people should come to Ohio and tell the people of Ohio one thing and then have your campaign tell a foreign government something else behind closed doors. That's the kind of difference between talk and action and that I've been pointing out in this campaign. I think the questions should be directed at Senator Obama."

NAFTA has been at the heart of the Democratic campaign in economically challenged Ohio, where residents blame the trade deal for the loss of thousands of manufacturing jobs. In the Democratic debate last week, Clinton threatened to opt out of NAFTA unless the U.S. wins key concessions to strengthen labour and environmental protections in the deal.

Clinton and Obama are locked are statistically tied in Ohio, so any votes Obama loses over the controversy could potentially be costly as he tries to lock up the Democratic nomination. The Obama campaign last week said "no one at any level of our campaign, at any point, anywhere" told Canada the Illinois senator was softening his position on trade.

Goolsbee has also disputed the characterization of his remarks in the Canadian memo. Bill Burton, an Obama spokesman, on Monday accused Clinton of making "blatant distortions" in a desperate attempt to halt her slide in the polls.

"Senator Clinton knows full well that she's not telling the truth on this story, and that her blatant distortion is just part of her campaign's stated strategy to throw the kitchen sink at Senator Obama in the closing days of this campaign," Burton said.

"The truth is, Senator Clinton called NAFTA a victory and has switched positions for raw political reasons. Her false attack won't protect American workers, but as President, Senator Obama will." In the Canadian memo, diplomats reported that Goolsbee assured Rioux "the current conversation in the U.S. is not aimed at Canada." Goolsbee said "the 'blood bath' is over expanding free trade to countries like Peru and Korea," according to the memo.

"He also suggested that of the Democratic candidates, Obama has been the least protectionist" and that "going forward, the campaign was going to be careful to send the appropriate message without coming off as too protectionist."

Howard Wolfson, Clinton's communications director, accused Obama of deliberately misleading Democrats by repeatedly denying any conversations took place between Canada and a member of his campaign team.

"At this point what we have is a lot of statements by the Obama campaign that have proven to be demonstrably false," Wolfson said. "I think from our perspective, the benefit of the doubt goes to the Canadians (on what was said)."

© Ottawa Citizen and Canwest News Service 2008

[WACF]

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/print/CTVNews/20080302/nafta_memo_080303/20080303/?hub=QPeriod&subhub=PrintStory

Canadian memo recounts Obama adviser's meeting

CTV.ca News Staff

Updated: Mon. Mar. 3 2008 11:40 PM ET

Canada has been drawn into the centre of the U.S. election campaign as Hillary Clinton attacked Barack Obama over the memo that said a top Obama advisor told Canada not to take his anti-NAFTA talk seriously.

Clinton's team is referring to the memo incident as "NAFTA-gate," in an 11th hour attempt to pull ahead of Obama in Tuesday's primaries that are seen as a dead-heat between the Democratic rivals.

The Canadian memo supports what CTV News reported exclusively last week: that Obama adviser Austan Goolsbee assured Canadian officials that the senator's tough talk on the North American Free Trade deal should not be taken seriously by the Harper government.

"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,'' said the memo, obtained by The Associated Press.

"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.''

The memo is the first documentation to emerge publicly out of a meeting that CTV reported on between Goolsbee and the Canadian consulate in Chicago. But the memo's contents are being disputed by Goolsbee.

Memo details

On Monday, Clinton held up the memo as evidence of doublespeak, saying it shows Obama's campaign was giving Canadians "the old wink-wink" about North American free trade.

"I don't think people should come to Ohio and tell the people of Ohio one thing and then have your campaign tell a foreign government something else behind closed doors," Clinton said in a statement.

The debate over NAFTA emerged after both Obama and Clinton took aim at the North American Free Trade Agreement in a Democratic presidential candidates' debate last Tuesday.

Both Obama and Clinton said they would use the six-month opt-out clause in NAFTA as leverage to negotiate a better deal for the U.S.

The memo that has now emerged, which was widely distributed within the Canadian government, was written by Joseph DeMora, who works at the Canadian consulate in Chicago, The Associated Press reported Monday.

DeMora wrote the memo after a Feb. 8 meeting with Goolsbee and Canada's consul general in Chicago, Georges Rioux.

But Goolsbee denied the comments in a response to The Associated Press.

"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."

The document, which is more than 1,300 words, is the first public confirmation that a meeting took place.

Embassy responds

The Canadian Embassy in Washington issued a statement on Monday saying its envoys "regularly contact those involved in all of the Presidential campaigns and, periodically, report on these contacts to interested officials."

The statement went on to say that in the recent report from the Consulate General in Chicago, "there was no intention to convey, in any way, that Senator Obama and his campaign team were taking a different position in public from views expressed in private, including about NAFTA.

"We deeply regret any inference that may have been drawn to that effect."

The statement added that Canada will not "interfere" in the American electoral process.

Obama spokesman Bill Burton said Sunday that Goolsbee's visit was not as a representative of the campaign but rather as a professor from the University of Chicago.

Goolsbee said the visit was about 40 minutes and only two to three minutes were spent talking about NAFTA.

He said the Canadian officials inquired about Obama and raised concerns that he appears to sound like a protectionist.

Goolsbee said he told them that Obama was not a protectionist but that he was interested in balance between supporting the struggles of working Americans and recognizing the benefits of free trade on the economy.

Goolsbee said the memo's account was "a pretty ham-handed description of what I answered."

"A: In no possible way was that a reference to NAFTA. And B: In no possible way was I inferring that he was going to introduce any policies that you should ignore and he had no intention of enacting. Those are both completely crazy.''

DeMora was not available for comment Sunday.

NAFTA, which was implemented in 1994, replaced the Free Trade Agreement, which was signed by Canada and the U.S. in the 1980s.

The new trade deal brought Mexico into the fold and has been blamed for job losses in states such as Ohio, a pivotal state in the Democratic primary race.

Ohio has lost more than 200,000 jobs since 2001 and it's estimated as many as 900,000 manufacturing jobs were lost in the U.S. in NAFTA's first decade.

But Canadian officials say cross-border trade supports more than 275,000 jobs in Ohio alone.

Economists also point out that NAFTA is not the sole factor when determining job losses. The effects of globalization and more efficient companies that do more with fewer workers have decreased the number of jobs.

The U.S. presidential election also spilled into the House of Commons Monday as NDP leader Jack Layton attacked Prime Minister Stephen Harper on the issue.

With files from The Associated Press

[LoungeMachine]

Canada Regrets Memo

http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/308919

Mar 03, 2008 07:27 PM
Beth Gorham
THE CANADIAN PRESS

WASHINGTON–Canada was pulled smack into the middle of the U.S. election campaign today at a do-or-die juncture for Hillary Clinton, who jumped on a memo suggesting a top Barack Obama adviser told Canadians not to take his anti-NAFTA rhetoric too seriously.

After days of denials from the Canadian Embassy and the Obama campaign that any such conversation took place, a memo surfaced saying it did – on Feb. 8 at the Canadian consulate in Chicago.

But Obama economic adviser Austan Goolsbee insisted his comments about NAFTA at the meeting were misconstrued in the summarizing brief written by a Canadian official.

"Nobody reached out to the Canadians to try to assure them of anything," Obama told reporters in Carrollton, Texas.

Asked why he had appeared to deny a report last week that a meeting had taken place at all, Obama said: "That was the information I had at the time."

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Foreign Affairs officials, meanwhile, expressed regret over the memo.

There was no intent to suggest Obama didn't mean what he said publicly about reopening the North American Free Trade Agreement, they said, and Canada doesn't want to interfere in the Democratic race.

But the memo provided new fodder for Clinton, whose bid for the Democratic nomination rests partly on winning Tuesday's Ohio primary. One way to do so is to break Obama's hold on blue-collar workers who blame NAFTA for job losses.

The latest polls suggest Clinton is holding an edge over Obama in the state, but they differ on the margin of support she holds.

In Ottawa, Opposition parties have accused the Conservative government of leaking word of the meeting last week to CTV News in order to hurt Democrats and help Republican John McCain in the U.S. presidential election this fall.

Bob Shrum, a top Democratic strategist, also accused Canada's Conservatives of "actively interfering" in the U.S. election campaign.

On Monday, NDP Leader Jack Layton demanded Harper fire the source of the leak, identified by an unnamed ABC source as his chief of staff Ian Brodie.

"I certainly deny any allegation that this government has attempted to interfere in the American election," Harper said during question period.

The Conservatives don't condone any suggestion that Obama is engaging in doubletalk on NAFTA, said Harper, adding the government ``certainly regrets it."

"I am confident that whoever (wins), man or woman, Democrat or Republican, that person will continue the strong alliance, friendship and partnership that we enjoy with the United States."

Both Obama and Clinton said in a debate in Ohio last week that they would threaten to pull out of NAFTA if it isn't reopened to include protections for workers and the environment. Neither one has offered details.

Harper called any attempt to renegotiate NAFTA a "mistake."

Trade Minister David Emerson has raised the possibility that the deal's favourable status for Americans on Canadian oil exports could be on the line.

"There isn't a Canadian alive that doesn't depend directly or indirectly on the benefit that have occurred from trade and particularly from NAFTA," he said Monday. "So it's fundamental to Canada's interest."

In Toledo, Clinton accused Obama of misleading people in Ohio while giving Canadians the "wink-wink" over his tough talk on trade.

"NAFTA – I don't just criticize it," she told cheering supporters. "I don't have my campaign go tell a foreign government behind closed doors: `That's just politics. Don't pay attention to it'."

"I think that's the kind of difference between talk and action that I've been talking about."

Obama spokesman Bill Burton hit back, saying Clinton "knows full well that she's not telling the truth on this story."

"Her blatant distortion is just part of her campaign's stated strategy to throw the kitchen sink at Senator Obama in the closing days of this campaign," he said.

The memo of the meeting with Goolsbee includes a long, three-page, single-spaced portion on NAFTA written by consulate employee Joseph DeMora.

It says Goolsbee privately told Canadian Consul General Georges Rioux that Obama's attack on free trade is "more reflective of political manoeuvring than policy."

"Goolsbee candidly acknowledged the protectionist sentiment that has emerged, particularly in the Midwest, during the primary campaign," it said.

"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."

Goolsbee disputed the characterization, saying those weren't his words.

"That's this guy's language," Goolsbee said. "He's not quoting me. I certainly did not use that phrase in any way."

The memo went on to say Goolsbee noted that going forward, "the Obama camp was going to be careful to send the appropriate message without coming off too protectionist."

The 40-minute meeting was described as an introductory get-together with parties involved in the U.S. election.

The memo said Goolsbee suggested Obama didn't want to fundamentally alter NAFTA.

Obama supports "strengthening and clarifying language on labour mobility and the environment and trying to establish these as core principles of the agreement," the memo said.

That mirrors Obama's position on the campaign trail and Goolsbee said it's accurate.

The memo also said Goolsbee emphasized that Canada is an important energy partner and talk in the U.S. about the negative impact of trade wasn't aimed at Canada but rather countries like Peru and Korea.

"One of Goolsbee's predominant messages was that the campaign was not `stressed out' by Canada," it said.

DeMora concluded by saying that "we are likely to see a continuation of some of the messaging that hasn't played in Canada's favour" as Obama continues to court the economic populist vote.

"But this should continue to be viewed in the context in which it is delivered."

Goolsbee acknowledged that Rioux expressed concerns about Obama being a protectionist.

He said he told officials the Illinois senator tries to strike a balance between the economic struggles of working Americans and recognizing that free trade is good for the economy.

The Obama aide expressed surprise at the controversy created by the meeting, saying only a couple minutes were spent on NAFTA.

The embarrassing flap left Foreign Affairs scrambling to make amends in a statement, saying "there was no intention to convey, in any way, that Senator Obama and his campaign team were taking a different position in public from views expressed in private, including about NAFTA."

"We deeply regret any inference that may have been drawn to that effect," it said. "Canada will not interfere in this electoral process."

The original CTV News report also said that aides for Clinton told Canadian officials not to worry about her strong anti-NAFTA rhetoric on the campaign trail – something her camp flatly denied.

[LoungeMachine]

Originally posted by LoungeMachine




There was no intent to suggest Obama didn't mean what he said publicly about reopening the North American Free Trade Agreement, they said, and Canada doesn't want to interfere in the Democratic race.

[LoungeMachine]

Originally posted by LoungeMachine
The embarrassing flap left Foreign Affairs scrambling to make amends in a statement, saying "there was no intention to convey, in any way, that Senator Obama and his campaign team were taking a different position in public from views expressed in private, including about NAFTA."

"We deeply regret any inference that may have been drawn to that effect," it said. "Canada will not interfere in this electoral process."

The original CTV News report also said that aides for Clinton told Canadian officials not to worry about her strong anti-NAFTA rhetoric on the campaign trail – something her camp flatly denied.

[Blackflag]

Originally posted by Nickdfresh
Um, and you're just assuming all of this is true despite the fact that both Obama and the Canadians denied it?

No, I assume it's true because it's textbook pandering from a politician.

And Lounge, it's AP, not from the internet.

[Blackflag]

Originally posted by LoungeMachine

There was no intent to suggest Obama didn't mean what he said publicly about reopening the North American Free Trade Agreement, they said, and Canada doesn't want to interfere in the Democratic race.

read: Whoops - we didn't mean to let that slip out. You stupid American voters weren't supposed to hear that.

[knuckleboner]

i'm not saying it's not true.

but if so, it's incredibly stupid.

after all, what benefit does obama get from assuring the canadians on NAFTA at this time? at MOST he's hoping to get canadian campaign donations. but seriously, is the likelihood that he'll get any significant canadian contributions worth the inordinant damage that a flip-flopping memo on an important issue to the ohio vote would do? no, definitely not worth the risk.

does it mean it's not true? not necessarily. but i'm skeptical.

[WACF]

Just a bit of background to this.

When the NAFTA talk started it became a big topic in the news.

Questions were raised about how Canada and Mexico are the biggest energy suppliers to the US and to open up NAFTA would then bring energy resources and cost into a new equation.

The truth is too that the US is the biggest abuser of what the rules of NAFTA means pertaining to protectionism, tariffs ect.

The far left here wants it opened...actually pretty much killed because it benifits you guys more than us in their opinion,

There have been many cases taken to court and the US usually loses...you still don't abide by the decisions though.

To open NAFTA will become very compicated and ugly...for example, we are being blamed for taking your steel industry yet those jobs went overseas before NAFTA...Blame Canada...

Obama might know this...he may not...he seems more a poet than a leader in my opinion...I think he said more than he should have and now it is out on the table...the meeting happened...it only took a week and CTV to name names to get him to admit it.

From what I see...the problem is someone leaked it when they should not have on the Canadian end(but then again when these guys say what they want to get support they should be outed)...

[Nickdfresh]

Originally posted by Blackflag
[B]No, I assume it's true because it's textbook pandering from a politician.

But it could also be textbook smearing by rival politicians...

[Blackflag]

Originally posted by Nickdfresh
But it could also be textbook smearing by rival politicians...

I didn't realize the Canadians were rivals.

[Nickdfresh]

The story broke in the US...