by Jason George
DERRY, N.H. – What’s got five letters and is bad for America, according to Sen. John Edwards?
No, it’s not Oprah – it’s NAFTA, which marked its 16th anniversary today, a date Edwards chose to chastise Sen. Hillary Clinton for previously praising the trade agreement.
“This is not an anniversary we should celebrate,” he said before heavily union audiences both here and at a previous stop in Concord.
“It cost us over a million jobs and she’ll have to carry that burden herself, in trying to convince people that she’s now changed her view.”
Edwards said NAFTA should be retained but “reworked,” with stringent environmental and labor standards, and a better understanding of how it will impact American jobs. In her defense, Clinton’s current position isn’t too different than Edwards’, and she has called for a moratorium on new trade deals, including expanding NAFTA, which her husband signed in December 1993.
While Edwards tried to keep the focus on the economy, he was asked throughout the day what he thought about tomorrow’s highly anticipated arrival of Oprah and Obama, who end their three-state swing in Manchester.
He did his best to downplay its significance.
“I think that most people vote on the basis of the candidates themselves,” he said, adding that celebrities are used “just to get people to show up.”
Not that he’s above it: “As you know we’ve had a number of stars who have been campaigning with me,” mentioning Bonnie Raitt and others to be announced.
Maybe Dr. Phil?