have a habit of supporting policies she later says are a mistake, but she doesn't seem to want to take responsibility for her position. So much for having good judgment on day one.
Obama Fires Back At Clinton On NAFTA Support
LORAIN, Ohio (AP) ― Barack Obama accused Democratic presidential rival Hillary Rodham Clinton on Sunday of trying to walk away from a long record of support for NAFTA, the free trade agreement that he said has cost 50,000 jobs in Ohio, site of next week's primary.
At the same time, he said attempts to repeal the trade deal "would probably result in more job losses than job gains in the United States."
One day after Clinton angrily accused him of distorting her record on the North American Free Trade Agreement in mass mailings, the Illinois senator was eager to rekindle the long-distance debate, using passages from the former first lady's book as well as her own words.
"Ten years after NAFTA passed, Senator Clinton said it was good for America," Obama said. "Well, I don't think NAFTA has been good for America — and I never have."
"The fact is, she was saying great things about NAFTA until she started running for president," Obama told an audience at a factory that makes wall board, located in a working class community west of Cleveland.
"A couple years after it passed, she said NAFTA was a 'free and fair trade agreement' and that it was 'proving its worth.' And in 2004, she said, "I think, on balance, NAFTA has been good for New York and America," he said.http://wjz.com/national/obama.clinton.nafta.2.661710.html Asked how other countries should interpret his position, Obama responded that he supported free trade but wanted it to be fair.
"What the world should interpret is my consistent position, which is I believe in trade," he said after meeting with workers at a manufacturing plant in Ohio.
"I just want to make sure that the rules of the road apply to everybody and they are fair and that they reflect the interests of workers and not just corporate profits."NAFTA went into force in 1994 while former President Bill Clinton held office.
Hillary Clinton, who called the pact a success in her memoir, says she has a plan to review and fix it and accuses Obama of complaining but not having a proposal to alter it.
Obama said he opposed NAFTA from the start and U.S. workers were not the only ones to suffer from its effects. Wages and benefits in Mexico had not been improved by the treaty, he said.
Looking forward, Obama said the World Trade Organization's Doha round of trade talks should have provisions that reject child labor and poor environmental standards while creating opportunities for developing nations to sell their goods to wealthy countries.
"When we think about the Doha round of trade agreements, for instance, I think it is perfectly appropriate for us to say that very poor countries should be able to export into wealthier countries on a basis that allows them to lift their standard of living," he said.
"We've got to have some minimal standards and we've got to have enforcement around things like safety standards."
Obama said ignoring the effect that trade agreements were having on workers would only lead to more protectionist tendencies in both the Republican and Democratic parties, which, in turn, would hurt the economy.http://www.forbes.com/reuters/feeds/reuters/2008/02/24/2008-02-25T001619Z_01_N24147277_RTRIDST_0_USA-POLITICS-OBAMA-TRADE-PIX.html 
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