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Teamsters President James Hoffa on Tuesday criticized a senior economic adviser to Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) in an unusual setting: a conference call set up by the Obama campaign to further its criticism of Mark Penn, a former strategist to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s (D-N.Y.) campaign.
As Hoffa criticized Penn’s connections to the Clinton campaign, the union leader was asked if Obama should distance himself from Austin Goolsbee, an Obama economic adviser who got in trouble after meeting with Canadian officials about the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Hoffa, clearly straying off the campaign’s message targeting Penn, said Goolsbee “should make a statement” clearing up the meeting, in which Goolsbee reportedly told the Canadians Obama’s actions would not back up his rhetoric on trade.
“Let’s ... end the mystery about what happened,” Hoffa said.
Hoffa said that Penn’s meeting last week with officials from Colombia over a trade agreement hurts Clinton’s credibility with union workers. But Hoffa went on to say that if Goolsbee did in fact try to reassure the Canadian government about Obama’s intentions regarding NAFTA, then it “was certainly not a smart meeting. He never should’ve done that.”
Hoffa later sought to clarify his remarks with a statement on the Teamsters website.
“To clear up any misunderstanding about my statements, the Obama campaign and Austan Goolsbee have already clarified Professor Goolsbee’s meeting with representatives from the Canadian government, and as confirmed by the Canadian government, Sen. Obama’s position on NAFTA has not changed,” Hoffa said.
Despite the mixed signals, the call shows how aides to Clinton and Obama have become the flashpoint in an intensifying battle over which candidate is better on trade, a key issue that figures to continue to be of concern to voters in the industrial manufacturing states of Pennsylvania and Indiana, which will both hold important contests in the coming weeks.
Goolsbee came into focus shortly before the March 4 Ohio and Texas primaries for reportedly trying to assuage Canadian officials’ concerns about Obama’s pledge during a debate to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) unless it is renegotiated.
The Obama campaign has repeatedly disputed the characterization of what Goolsbee said, adding that he did not speak to Canadian officials in his capacity as senior economic adviser to the campaign.
Many analysts believe the dust-up over Goolsbee helped Clinton win a convincing victory in Ohio’s primary. With polls in Pennsylvania tightening ahead of its April 22 primary, some think Penn could have the same effect, but this time to Clinton’s detriment.
Outside groups are trying to keep the pressure on.
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