Same Old GOP

Despite the support of Senators Obama and Clinton for "free" trade in the face of its impact upon small-town and main street America, they at least would like to maintain employment. But according to the economically right-wing, and euphemistically named, Club For Growth on March 12, 2007:

Senator McCain also voted to kill the Schumer-Graham bill,[41] which would have imposed an onerous tariff on China if it refused to revalue its currency, and voted to give the President trade promotion authority.[42] The Cato Institute aptly sums up his record on trade by designating him a "free trader" for the 105th Congress through the 108th Congress, a top accolade given out to those who "consistently vote against both trade barriers and international economic subsidies."

This might explain why McCain also opposes including provisions in trade agreements to address environmental concerns and to protect workers' rights. This puts him in synch with the Wall Street wing of the Repub Party and its merry band of plutocrats, as demonstrated in this exchange on the 4/15/08 edition of Meet The Press between Repub strategist Mary Matalin and Democratic strategist Bob Shrum.

MS. MATALIN: It's called, it's called--excuse me, it's called a dynamic global economy. You cannot...

MR. SHRUM: I hope you guys go into Pennsylvania and explain it that way.

It's easy, I suppose, to be little concerned with good-paying jobs with benefits when you're a comfortable GOP strategist or senator married to an heiress to a beer fortune. And some of these jobs are in small towns which, clearly, Barack Obama (and Hillary Clinton) are more concerned about than the opponent one of them will face this autumn.