My notes are brief, but so was the call. It was also incredibly focused on the record of Clinton’s NAFTA involvement. Audio here. Notes after the jump.
A union leader — whose name I missed — led off the call, saying that what’s important about Clinton’s NAFTA position isn’t whether she’s for or against it, but that she hasn’t been open about her position: “We want to know where you stand… carefully parsed words and misleading statements… the kind of politics that led us into the war in Iraq… Obama will be straight with the American people about where he stands.”
Advisers Robert Gibbs and David Axelrod also got on, Gibbs saying that the reason HRC delayed releasing her sked was that she was “hiding” something, and “one thing she was hiding was the truth.”
Axelrod told us that “whether you’re for or against NAFTA, this is a question of political character,” he reminded listeners of the “shame on you” moment, saying that she made that gesture “with great theatricality,” despite the fact that “when [she made that statement], she knew she had been a featured speaker” at meetings promoting NAFTA.”
First question went to Finley Lewis of Copley News Service and — drumroll… — it was substantive! He asked how Obama would “limit [NAFTA] negotiations to issues favorable to the United States?”
Axelrod took it, and asserted that “we’re not going to discuss the ins and outs of what [negotiations] should be… the real issue is whether or not we’re going to have a president that’s straight with the American people.”
This became something of a theme.
In response to another question, this time about union support in MI, Axelrod chimed in after Union Guy to say that, again, “whether you’re for or against [NAFTA], you want a president who will be straight with you,” and by railing against Obama’s stand on NAFTA while having supported it as First Lady, she committed “the political equivalent of consumer fraud.”
The question that I didn’t get* to ask was for the union guy:
What have you heard from Sen. Obama that you don’t agree with but that you respect him for, because he’s being “straight” about it?
Maybe next time.
* Thank you, Shambly. Was in a hurry.