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Obama Begins To Unravel

Obama Didn't Get The Memo The New York Times  (3/4, Luo) reports, "The denials were sweeping when Senator Barack Obama's campaign mobilized last week to refute a report that a senior official had given back-channel reassurances to Canada soft-pedaling Mr. Obama's tough talk on Nafta. While campaigning in Ohio, Mr. Obama has harshly criticized the North American Free Trade Agreement, which many Ohioans blame for an exodus of jobs. He agreed last week at a debate with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton that the United States should consider leaving the pact if it could not be renegotiated. On Monday, a memorandum surfaced, obtained by The Associated Press, showing that Austan D. Goolsbee, a professor of economics at the University of Chicago who is Mr. Obama's senior economic policy adviser, met officials last month at the Canadian consulate in Chicago. According to the writer of the memorandum, Joseph De Mora, a political and economic affairs consular officer, Professor Goolsbee assured them that Mr. Obama's protectionist stand on the trail was ‘more reflective of political maneuvering than policy.'"

Obama: "Come On!  I Just Answered Like Eight Questions" The New York Daily News (3/4, Saul) reports, "An exasperated Barack Obama scurried away Monday from the toughest news conference of his campaign, telling reporters who kept shouting questions that he'd spent enough time on the grill. ‘Come on! I just answered, like, eight questions,' Obama, looking surprised, told shouting reporters as he fled the room. ... The first question was about a private talk an Obama economic adviser had with a Canadian official - reportedly saying that the harshness of Obama's criticisms of the North American Free Trade Agreement was for political show. Last week, Obama denied an initial media report about the conversation. But after a Canadian government memo surfaced, he acknowledged yesterday there was a conversation."

Obama Campaign "Thrown Seriously Off Message" The Chicago Sun-Times (3/4, Sweet) reports, "As Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) closed a combative press conference on Monday, where he was thrown seriously off message being asked about influence peddler Tony Rezko and why his campaign at first denied his economic adviser Austan Goolsbee met the Canadian consul in Chicago and talked about NAFTA, some reporters -- me included -- wanted him to take more questions. ... I could see why Obama wanted to wrap it up. On the day before crucial votes in Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island and Vermont that could make him the Democratic presidential nominee, Obama, for the first time in his campaign, was facing two potential landmines. ... Rezko's federal corruption trial started Monday, and there are still basic questions Obama and his campaign have not answered about their relationship. Rezko was an Obama fund-raiser who figures in the deal that let the Obamas buy their Kenwood home."

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