Obama's take on trade and immigration is reflected in his old "clinging to guns and religion"

[pampango]

speech in 2008.

You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton Administration, and the Bush Administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mayhill-fowler/obama-no-surprise-that-ha_b_96188.html

He got a lot of flack for this at the time but it seems to be an accurate reflection of his long term attitudes.

[RiverLover]

1. 2008~

Candidate Obama in 2008 was able to win the Democratic nomination and then the presidency only by waging a ferocious attack on the economic and social devastation caused by “free trade.”

In a typical speech, Obama thundered that:

"decades of trade deals like NAFTA and China have been signed with plenty of protections for corporations and their profits, but none for our environment or our workers who've seen factories shut their doors and millions of jobs disappear; workers whose right to organize and unionize has been under assault for the last eight years."

Such rhetoric enabled Obama to carry crucial industrial states against John McCain in 2008. But following in the footsteps of Democratic President Bill Clinton, who promised tough “side agreements” to NAFTA to protect labor rigthts and environmental conditions in Mexico and 2004 Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, who memorably railed against “Benedict Arnold CEOs” who moved jobs abroad, Obama has reversed course and embraced the agenda of Corporate America....

http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/12127/obamas_hollow_victory_on_trade_threatens_loyalty_of_base_2012_prospects

In his own words(2008)~

[pampango]

2. "but none for our environment or our workers whose right to organize and unionize has been under

assault".

I think his focus on union rights and the environment as critical to trade rule changes has remained constant since 2008.

"... antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations. "

[msongs]

3. obama's secret TPP will result in a golden era for those washed up regions... nt

[pampango]

4. Perhaps but his thinking on it has been pretty consistent over the years.

In 2008 most of the flack he received for his statement was from republicans reacting to the "guns and religion" part.