Thursday, August 19, 2010

Torched Earth Politics burns Strickland

As we've seen in the polls, Strickland's efforts to delegitimize Kasich in the eyes of the voters hasn't worked.

In the face of a massive jobs crisis, yelling "outsourcing", "NAFTA", "Wall Street", or "Lehman", seems to have fallen on deaf ears.

Strickland's particular focus on trade as of late caught the attention of the Columbus Dispatch.

And what they unveiled once again weakens the messenger in his effort to tear down his opponent.
Although Strickland voted against the North American Free Trade Agreement and against granting China permanent favored trade status in 2000, he supported retaining most-favored-nation treatment for China in House resolutions in 1993 and 1994.

[...]

Although he blames NAFTA for Ohio's job losses, Strickland last year supported President Barack Obama's decision not to reopen the agreement with Canada and Mexico, saying at the time that "we have to be very careful about any signals of protectionism."

Ohio is the seventh-largest exporter among all states. In 2009, Ohio exported more than $34 billion worth of goods and services, including nearly $2 billion to China.
Besides calling Strickland out on his hypocrisy, that last stat is an important one to note. Without NAFTA or trade with the Chinese, there is no question Ohio would be exporting fewer goods. Exporting fewer goods means lesser demand. Lesser demand means lesser production. And lesser production means fewer jobs.

But after the total and complete failure of Turnaround Ohio, does it surprise anyone that Strickland can't comprehend what's good for Ohio's economy?

Of course not.

All that said, let's hope Strickland continues with his torched earth style of campaigning. I don't mind the results.

2 comments:

  1. have you seen the maryjo kiljobs video posted at NRO and powerline?

    Very interesting

    ReplyDelete
  2. We import twice as much as we export...because of these unfair trade deals.

    Strickland voted for the Chinese MFN status because it had strong worker protections absent in the frequent ones he opposed and Kasich voted for. Kasich voted against those worker protection-versions of China MFN status.

    Exports are an important part of our economy which is why it's important to note that the Strickland-Fisher administration is responsible for Ohio being the only State in the nation to see its exporting rise during this recession. However, Ohio manufacturing cannot compete fairly when China can manipulate the currency exchange and dump below cost steel.

    John Kasich's even admitted that he'll outsource Ohio's economic development out of Ohio...

    ReplyDelete

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