Pandering

Let's reopen and renegotiate NAFTA? Pop quiz - Who is the primary supplier of oil to the United States? If you answered Canada - congratulations. And NAFTA provides the US with a very sweet deal when it comes to that oil too. Will renegotiating NAFTA bring back all those "jobs that were shipped overseas by greedy multinationals"? Not now, not ever; that ship has sailed. To suggest otherwise is pandering of the lowest kind.

This level of demagoguery only proves that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama will say anything at this point in the campaign for votes. It ought to be viewed with alarm by anyone that is paying even the slightest attention to the electoral process.

Kimberley Strassel at The Wall Street Journal has this to say:

"At an event Monday at George Washington University, a moderator asked four House Democrats if any thought it "practical" or a "good idea" to reopen and renegotiate Nafta. The crew, led by Democratic Caucus head Rahm Emanuel, stared uneasily into the middle distance before submitting "no."

"We'll see if word gets to Ohio," joked the moderator.

It didn't, and that's got some grown-ups in the party nervous. Democrats have been flirting with outright protectionism for some time now -- taking a dip with the "fair trade" movement, cozying up to labor and environmental standards, and shunning trade deals in Congress. It's been a tease, though careful not to let things go too far.

Now they're cornered with the heavy-breathing Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and some are worried about their reputation. The two presidential nominees, grasping for votes in economically depressed Ohio, are setting new protectionist lows, with calls for trade "time outs" and threats to overthrow Nafta. It's come at a crucial moment for the Democratic Party, which after years of trade wandering now has a shot at defining the issue from the White House."