Re: Score one for Obama
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Posted by Jim S on February 28, 2008 at 17:41:48
In Reply to: Score one for Obama
posted by Mike Scott on February 24, 2008 at 18:00:53:
It is statements such as these that get me confused....:>)
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7629b522-e641-11dc-8398-0000779fd2ac.htmlConcerns over Obama’s shift to left
By Edward Luce in San Antonio, TexasPublished: February 28 2008 21:33 | Last updated: February 28 2008 21:33
Until a few weeks ago Barack Obama’s economic platform was the most centrist of the three Democratic contenders remaining after John Edwards, the flag-bearer of the left, dropped out in late January.
Since Super Tuesday on February 5, that has changed. Scenting, perhaps, the chance of settling the nomination next week (when Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island and Vermont go to the polls), Mr Obama has indulged in a bidding war with Hillary Clinton to see who can rail most strongly against globalisation.
Last week Mr Obama came out against “open trucking” with Mexico in which freight lorries would drive across the border instead of unloading on to American trucks. His new stance coincided with the endorsement of the Teamsters union, which is opposed to competition in road freight.
In addition to attacking the North American Free Trade Agreement, which Mr Obama says has cost the US “millions of jobs”, both candidates have alarmed America’s neighbours by threatening to opt out of Nafta.
Mr Obama’s proposal to levy lower corporate tax on companies that reverse the offshoring of jobs has caused disquiet. “Patriot employers” was unveiled when Mr Obama had already become the favourite to secure the nomination. Some say it is unworkable.“It just isn’t clear why the Obama campaign felt the need to bring this out now,” one Democratic economist says. “It might have political merits in the primaries but there are many more effective and less bureaucratic ways than this to incentivise the creation of new jobs.”
Mr Obama’s terminology has also raised eyebrows. “What he is effectively saying is that companies that offshore jobs are unpatriotic,” says Gary Hufbauer, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute of International Economics. “This is serious language.”
Supporters of Mr Obama deny he is opposed to trade liberalisation and point to his recent vote in favour of the bilateral deal with Peru because it had agreed to incorporate labour and environmental standards. Critics say such arrangements could jeopardise Nafta.