The Obama campaign has acknowledged a conversation between Austan Goolsbee and a Canadian government official.
(ABC News)
Howard Wolfson, Clinton's communications director, demanded today that the Obama campaign answer whether or not Goolsbee had reassured the Canadian official about Obama's rhetoric.
"It is a very simple question. It requires a simple yes or no. We don't need any equivocation — just a simple yes or no will do," Wolfson said.
If true, Wolfson alleged, it would be an example of Obama's saying one thing and doing another.
"I'm reminded of Sen. Obama's vociferous criticism of NAFTA when he's in Ohio, but his praise of it before a group of farmers when he's running for office in the state of Illinois in 2004," Wolfson said, pointing to a September 2004 Associated Press article quoting Obama as saying the United States should continue to pursue trade deals such as NAFTA.
"Austan Goolsbee secretly sending messages to the Canadian government, elements of the Canadian government, that the criticism of NAFTA should not be taken seriously," Wolfson said. "Very simple question — it deserves a very simple answer: Has Austan Goolsbee had any contact with anyone in the Canadian government or the embassy to send such a message?"
Before the Clinton campaign's call, the Obama campaign stood by its previous denials of any outreach from the Obama campaign to the Canadian government, but would not specifically address reports of a conversation between Goolsbee and the Canadian official.
"It's telling that the Clinton campaign's closing argument is based on a story run on a Canadian television station that's already been debunked by the Canadian Embassy," Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton said.
"Again, this story is not true. There was no one at any level of our campaign, at any point, anywhere, who said or otherwise implied Obama was backing away from his consistent position on trade. The only flip-flopping on NAFTA has come from Sen. Clinton, who talked about how good it was for America until she started running for President," Burton said.
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