Candidate Obama Vs. President Obama On Trade (New Deal 2.0)

[chill_wind]

Candidate Obama Vs. President Obama On Trade
Thursday, 08/4/2011 - 11:25 am by Zaid Jilani


President Barack Obama recently stood before the nation and addressed the dismal jobs report that showed unemployment was now hovering around 9.2 percent. As a part of his address, he called on Congress to “advance trade agreements that will help businesses sell more American-made goods and services to Asia and South America, supporting thousands of jobs here at home.”

Astute observers will note that Obama said these agreements would support thousands of jobs in the U.S. — not that it would create them — which is the traditional political parlance for supporting a policy. One reason the Obama administration has used this rhetoric around the trade agreements is because there is very little data to show that these three agreements will actually create a net surplus of jobs in the United States. In fact, the Economic Policy Institute estimated in 2010 that the Korean and Colombian trade agreements will result in 214,000 jobs lost in the United States.


(snip)

While it’s true that candidate Obama never endorsed a complete about-face on U.S. trade policy — the only candidate in the Democratic primary who did so was Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), who advocated for ending the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and returning to bilateral trade — he did engage in serious critiques and indicated that he would oppose the legacy of neoliberal trade policies.

While campaigning in the key battleground state of Ohio, Obama repeatedly called for reforming NAFTA, claiming that it cost the country up to a million jobs. By the spring of 2009, Obama’s trade representative Ron Kirk openly admitted that the administration will not seek to renegotiate any part of NAFTA.

But Obama’s about-face on NAFTA isn’t the only trade flip-flop the president has had. While on the campaign trail in April of 2008, then-Senator Obama said he would oppose a new free trade agreement with Colombia “because the violence against unions would make a mockery of the very labor protections that we have insisted be included in these kinds of agreements.”

more:

http://www.newdeal20.org/2011/08/04/candidate-obama-vs-president-obama-on-trade-53840/




Labor ramps up effort to stop trade deals

By Vicki Needham - 08/07/11 12:55 PM ET
http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/1005-trade/175799-labor-ramps-up-effort-to-stop-trade-deals

[bvar22]

1. When the Obama Administration...

...Trash Canned the promises on EFCA and NAFTA on Day One,
I KNEW Americans who Work for a Living were in for Hard Times.



Who will STAND and FIGHT for THIS American Majority?
You will know them by their WORKS,
not by their excuses.



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[chill_wind]

2. Candidate Obama - Columbia

Obama Vows Opposition to Colombia Trade Deal
By Susan Davis
April 2, 2008

Nick Timiraos reports from Philadelphia, Pa. on the presidential race.

Sen. Barack Obama promised to stand firm in his opposition to the Colombia Free Trade Agreement on Wednesday–days after President Bush asked Congress to quickly pass the trade deal–in a speech to rally the union vote at the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO’s annual convention.

The Illinois senator said he would oppose the Colombia Free Trade Agreement “because the violence against unions in Colombia would make a mockery of the very labor protections that we have insisted be included in these kinds of agreements.”

Sen. Barack Obama addresses the Pennsylvania Statewide AFL-CIO Convention in Philadelphia, Pa. (Getty)

Unions have lobbied hard against the measure in part because of concerns of the deaths of trade unionists in Colombia. Congress passed a similar free trade deal with Peru in December. Obama and rival Sen. Hillary Clinton supported the deal but were not present to vote on it.

Obama told the union assembly that he was tired of unions “playing defense,” but he also looked to set himself apart from Clinton, who spoke before the convention yesterday and compared herself to the fictional Philadelphia fighter Rocky Balboa. “Let me tell you something, when it comes to finishing the fight, Rocky and I have a lot in common. I never quit. I never give up. And neither do the American people,” Clinton said Tuesday.

more:
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/04/02/obama-vows-opposition-to-colombia-trade-deal/



(from the OP)
http://www.newdeal20.org/2011/08/04/candidate-obama-vs-president-obama-on-trade-53840/

While the administration is now busy downplaying concerns of human rights and labor advocates about the situation in Colombia, it’s important to note that the levels of violence in the country now are actually no different than where they were when Obama made that statement. According to data from the International Trade Union Confederation’s (ITUC) Annual Survey of Violations of Trade Union Rights, Colombia in 2010 had 49 assassinations of labor officials — more than the rest of the world combined. That’s a major jump over 2007, when ITUC numbers show that there were only 37 assassinations, and 2008, when there were also 49 assassinations.

[chill_wind]

3. Colombia is still the deadliest country in the world for trade union members.

ITUC Survey: Colombia Still the Most Dangerous Place for Union Members
by James Parks, Jun 9, 2011

Colombia is still the deadliest country in the world for trade union members, according to the latest global Annual Survey of violation of trade union rights released yesterday by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).

The survey, conducted across 143 countries, paints a picture of people fighting for greater economic rights and freedom to join a union, with many governments and corporations responding with repression, firings, violence, death threats and murder.

Last year, 90 trade union members were murdered, 49 in Colombia alone, according to the survey. Another 75 trade unionists received death threats. At least 2,500 were arrested and at least 5,000 were fired because of union activities.

The AFL-CIO vigorously opposes the proposed free trade agreement with Colombia so long as the “horrifying levels of labor and human rights violations in the country” continue.

more on the survey:

http://blog.aflcio.org/2011/06/09/ituc-survey-colombia-still-the-most-dangerous-place-for-union-members/