by Frank James
Oh no, Canada says.
Our neighbors to the north, anxious about being thrown into the middle of the U.S. presidential campaign, want Americans to know that a by-now infamous memo by a Canadian consulate staffer in Chicago has been misconstrued.
The memo in question was by a staff member who was in in a meeting attended by Austan Goolsbee, the University of Chicago economist who is a senior adviser to Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. In the memo, the staffer said Goolsbee sent the message that Obama’s anti-Nafta message was intended for the campaign and shouldn’t be understood to represent what the policies of an Obama Administration would actually be.
This has set off a firestorm, with Sen. Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign attacking Obama’s. Meanwhile, Goolsbee has denied saying what the Canadian memo indicates he said.
More Top Picks Best Portable Oxygen Concentrators
Now the Canadian foreign service weighs in with this new press release:
Please find below a statement issued by the Canadian Embassy today.
Washington, D.C.
March 3, 2008
The Canadian Embassy and our Consulates General regularly contact those involved in all of the Presidential campaigns and, periodically, report on these contacts to interested officials. In the recent report produced by the Consulate General in Chicago, there was no intention to convey, in any way, that Senator Obama and his campaign team were taking a different position in public from views expressed in private, including about NAFTA. We deeply regret any inference that may have been drawn to that effect.
The people of the United States are in the process of choosing a new President and are fortunate to have strong and impressive candidates from both political parties. Canada will not interfere in this electoral process. We look forward, however, to working with the choice of the American people in further building an unparalleled relationship with a close friend and partner.
Statement can be found at: www.washington.gc.ca.
How do you say keep us the heck out of your mess in French?