Canadians Mess Up NAFTA Talk, Eh.
Oh those darn Canadians. They never get their facts straight.
At least that's the spin from the Obama camp, now that a memo has been found about a NAFTA discussion between a senior Obama campaign official and "minor" representatives of the Canadian government in Chicago.
The Associated Press reports that "The memo is the first documentation to emerge publicly out of the meeting between the adviser, Austan Goolsbee, and officials with the Canadian consulate in Chicago, but Goolsbee said it misinterprets what he told them."
Goolsbee disputed a section that read: "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. 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."
"This thing about 'it's more about political positioning than a clear articulation of policy plans,' that's this guy's language," Goolsbee said. "He's not quoting me. I certainly did not use that phrase in any way."
Goolsbee said the part of the memo that reflected Obama's campaign positions were correct, but those that didn't were wrong.
The meeting was first reported last week by the CTV network in Canada, which reported that Goolsbee had told the Canadians not to be worried about NAFTA bashing by Obama in last Tuesday night's debate in Ohio.
Obama spokesman Bill Burton said Goolsbee's visit was not as an emissary from the campaign, but as a professor from the University of Chicago. He was not authorized to share any messages from the campaign, Burton said.
Update: The Canadian Embassy issued the following statement today:
The Canadian Embassy and our Consulates General regularly contact those involved in all of the Presidential campaigns and, periodically, report on these contacts to interested officials. In the recent report produced by 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 people of the United States are in the process of choosing a new President and are fortunate to have strong and impressive candidates from both political parties. Canada will not interfere in this electoral process. We look forward, however, to working with the choice of the American people in further building an unparalleled relationship with a close friend and partner.
1:10 PM ET | 03- 3-2008 | permalink
