This long and sordid, kinda boring and yet, totally important (!) story comes from our Friends to the North. It all started last week…

At the debate in Cleveland on February 26, both candidates espoused identical views on how to deal with NAFTA, which is to renegotiate it or pull out of it. The next night, those Filthy Canadian Devils decided to throw a snowball:

The report is blind, with an “unnamed source” claiming a “senior member in the Obama Campaign” called the Canadian Ambassador, told him that NAFTA would become an issue but anything that Obama said would be just noise to appeal to Americans, and he didn’t really mean it.Obama’s people responded swiftly:

“The news reports on Obama’s position on NAFTA are inaccurate and in no way represent Senator Obama’s consistent position on trade,” says Obama spokesman Bill Burton. “When Senator Obama says that he will forcefully act to make NAFTA a better deal for American workers, he means it. Both Canada and Mexico should know that, as president, Barack Obama will do what it takes to create and protect American jobs and strengthen the American economy — that includes amending NAFTA to include labor and environmental standards. We are currently reaching out to the Canadian embassy to correct this inaccuracy.”

And Canada backs him up:

“I can categorically say that no one has contacted our embassy or our ambassador,” said Canadian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andre Lemay. “None of our officials at the embassy discussed anything with the runners up in the presidential campaign. We realize that one of the Canadian networks mentioned yesterday that such a call had been made. The report is untrue.”

Whew. Crisis averted! Oh, wait…

However, the Obama camp did not respond to repeated questions from CTV on reports that a conversation on this matter was held between Obama’s senior economic adviser — Austan Goolsbee — and the Canadian Consulate General in Chicago.

It was Austan Goolsbee, in the study, with the rope! The story goes on to ensnare Clinton, too:

The CTV exclusive also reported that sources said the Clinton campaign has made indirect contact with the Canadian government, trying to reassure Ottawa of their support despite Clinton’s words. The Clinton camp denied the claim.
…..
But on Wednesday, one of the primary sources of the story, a high-ranking member of the Canadian embassy, gave CTV more details of the call. He even provided a timeline. He has since suggested it was perhaps a miscommunication.
…
Sources at the highest levels of the Canadian government — who first told CTV that a call was made from the Obama camp — have reconfirmed their position.

We appear to be at an impasse. Until, that is, a memo is leaked to the Associated Press. A memo that details this meeting. Remember when we said Embassy and Ambassador? We meant “office in Chicago” and “counsel general.” Ah ha! A smoking gun! Oh, and also, Goolsbee was there as a professor from the University of Chicago, not as an emissary for Barack.

Goolsbee makes the rounds, explaining he was invited by the Canadians to sit down, he did, they spent 40 minutes talking, only two or three were devoted to NAFTA, and he said nothing more than that he agreed with Barack’s stance on it. Goolsbee says they must “misinterpreted” him:

Goolsbee disputed the characterization from the conservative government official.

“This thing about ‘it’s more about political positioning than a clear articulation of policy plans,’ that’s this guy’s language,” Goolsbee said of DeMora. “He’s not quoting me.

“I certainly did not use that phrase in any way,” he said.

The CBC then runs a report that says:

the memo at the heart of the controversy “may not accurately reflect what they were told”.

So, basically, the story about the Obama staffer telling the Canadian Embassy to pay us no nevermind when we talk about NAFTA? Yeah, complete fiction. Total, unadulterated lies. But don’t worry! Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he’s real real sorry, and he’ll get to the bottom of it:

The leak of information about Barack Obama’s position on the North American Free Trade Agreement was “blatantly unfair” to his campaign, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Wednesday.

Harper said the government was mounting an “internal security investigation” to find out who leaked the information, which suggested Obama’s campaign had said not to pay too much attention to his protectionist rhetoric on NAFTA.

“This kind of leaking of information is completely unacceptable and in fact … it may well be illegal,” the prime minister told Parliament.

He doesn’t need to look very far.

If the prime minister is seeking the first link in the chain of events that has rocked the U.S. presidential race, he need look no further than his chief of staff, Ian Brodie, The Canadian Press has learned.

The article goes on to say that Brodie said the Clinton campaign, not the Obama campaign, had contacted them. Both accusations, of course, are being denied.

Got that? It’s like a soap opera that thus far refuses to end. But, there are six weeks until Pennsylvania, and I guess we should thank Canada for giving us something to fixate on during the lull.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 7th, 2008 at 8:57 pm and is filed under Foreign Policy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.