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These are hard times to be a socialist in America. And not just because there's a bourgeois-bloated Starbucks on every other corner, thumbing its capitalist nose at the proletariat.

No, it's tough these days because you've got politicians on the right, the same guys who just helped nationalize the banking system, derisively and inaccurately calling the presidential candidate on the left a socialist. That's enough to make Karl Marx harumph in his grave.

Local communists, rarely tapped as campaign pundits, say Sen. Barack Obama and his policies stand far afield from any form of socialism they know.

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Not ours!

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"Red baiting is really the last refuge of scoundrels," Bachtell said. "It has nothing to do with the issues that are confronting the American people right now. It's just a big diversion."

Of course that's just one man's opinion. (And everyone knows you can't trust a communist.)

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Local communists, rarely tapped as campaign pundits, say Sen. Barack Obama and his policies stand far afield from any form of socialism they know.

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Originally posted by BetterRed:
What is Obama's policy on NAFTA?

Does he even have one?
Or does it keep shifting in the wind, always blurry?

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It was softened as I recall after it came under criticism -
this is what his website says now:

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Amend the North American Free Trade Agreement: Obama and Biden believe that NAFTA and its potential were oversold to the American people. They will work with the leaders of Canada and Mexico to fix NAFTA so that it works for American workers.

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What did Harper hope to gain? Proof that his corporate buddies could safely back the Dems in the USA?

Or did someone in Harper's government hope to embarrass Obama (a man likely to become President, even at the time) into a firmer stance against NAFTA, forcing Harper to play along even against the wishes of his corporate backers?

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Originally posted by DrConway:

If we can get a more left-wing government in Canada by next year, this will be an opportune time for Canada to take the lead by insisting, in no uncertain terms, that the FTA and NAFTA must be abrogated completely and replaced by restricted sectoral trade agreements.

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I find that a little risky, we just had a 300$ million election that almost propelled Harper to a majority. The Liberals collapsed. The NDP only made modest gains.

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Originally posted by Papal Bull:
Holding an election in a year, sans a political miracle, is a bad move for the left at best, and disrespectful to Canadian voters and taxpayers in general.

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