Obama And Clinton Talk Trade In Pittsburgh

Illinois Senator Barack Obama and New York Senator Hillary Clinton talked separately about their plans to stop the loss of Pennsylvania's manufacturing jobs to China

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama engaged in separate talks yesterday in Pittsburgh to the Alliance for American Manufacturing, which is a group organized by the United Steelworkers union. Nearly 2,000 people attended the events which included steel industry executives, workers, retirees and labor officials. Mrs. Clinton pledged to use the World Trade Organization to challenge China and other trade violators. She was much more specific in her 30 minute speech than Obama, who gave a more general speech of how he met with laid-off steelworkers while he was a social worker and community organizer in Chicago. He also said that he doesn't oppose all free trade deals. The USW president Leo Gerard was very impressed with both candidates. ''These are the two best Democratic candidates I've seen in my adult lifetime.'' Pat Hassey, who is president, chairman and CEO of Allegheny Technologies, said the candidates were very specific regarding supporting manufacturing as a way of keeping America strong as a nation in terms of its economy and military. Senator Obama said that he was opposed to NAFTA, protectionist trade policies by South Korea that limited the amount of American cars coming into that country, improving the Employee Free Choice Act, supporting legislation that would give tax credits for American companies that don't move their jobs overseas, spending money to improve our nation's roads and bridges and praising green energy proposals. Obama also admitted to the pro-union and Democratic crowd that not every job can be saved because we are part of a global economy now. He took a shot at Clinton when he mentioned that her former campaign manager Mark Penn was lobbying the Colombian government for the free trade agreement between us and that Latin American country while Senator Clinton is opposing the deal publicly. Mrs. Clinton said that she co-founded the Senate manufacturing caucus in 2005. She also promised to use the U.S. trade representative to fully investigate unfair trading allegations. ''She called for an intellectual property team to combat international counterfeiting, tax relief for industries losing work to China, and placing a hold on international trade agreements.'' Clinton also called for President Bush to boycott the Olympic ceremony in Beijing, China. She also criticized Obama for not fully stating his position on the Olympics by saying that if you can't stand up to the Chinese over the Olympic ceremony, how are you going to stand up to them on trade? The United Steelworkers Union has 7,500 political volunteers and it hasn't decided who it will endorse in the fall campaign. They originally endorsed John Edwards at a Labor Day rally in Pittsburgh. However, they won't be endorsing Republican nominee John McCain. There seems to be a mix-up or miscommunication regarding McCain and the USW. Mr. Gerard said that he sent McCain an invitation to speak at yesterday's event but he didn't even respond to it. However, according to McCain spokesman Jeff Sadosky, he didn't receive an invitation. McCain will be speaking today concerning trade and the economy in Pittsburgh.