More on NAFTA Remarks by Obama Advisor to Canadian Consular Officials UPDATE

Last Thursday I posted about a Canadian TV report that a senior Obama advisor told the Canadian ambassador not to "take seriously" Obama's "heavy swings" at NAFTA on the campaign trail, then updated the post when the Canadian embassy and the Obama campaign both denied any such contacts with the ambassador.

The story has squirmed and twisted and refused to die since then, with the location of the conversation shifted from the Canadian embassy in Washington to the Canadian consulate in Chicago and the Obama advisor identified as Austan Goolsbee of the University of Chicago. The latest report indicates that there is a memo prepared by a consulate employee regarding a 40 minute "introductory visit" by Goolsbee, during which perhaps two or three minutes were spent discussing NAFTA. Goolsbee disputes the memo's description of his comments. Goolsbee recounts his remarks this way:

[T]he Canadians asked about Obama's position [on NAFTA], and [Goolsbee] replied about [Obama's] interest in improving labor and environmental standards, and [the Canadians] raised some concerns that Obama sounds like a protectionist.

[Goolsbee] said he responded that Obama is not a protectionist, but that the Illinois senator tries to strike a balance between the economic struggles of working Americans and recognizing that free trade is good for the economy.

But the memo says this:

Noting anxiety among many U.S. domestic audiences about the U.S. economic outlook, Goolsbee candidly acknowledged the protectionist sentiment that has emerged, particularly in the Midwest, during the primary campaign. He cautioned that this messaging should not be taken out of context and should be viewed as more about political positioning than a clear articulation of policy plans

Goolsbee flatly denies using the phrase "should not be taken out of context and should be viewed as more about political positioning," and says that "in no possible way was I inferring that [Obama] was going to introduce any policies that [Canada] should ignore and he had no intention of enacting."

Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton says that Goolsbee wasn't authorized to speak for the Obama campaign on the matter, and agrees with Goolsbee's contention that the memo "boils down to a clumsy, inaccurate portrayal of the conversation."

So, the story isn't gone, but has shrunk down to a quibble based on the accuracy of a summarization of a conversation. It sounds like a case of the consular employee hearing Goolsbee's remarks they way he wanted to hear them, since the Canadians are opposed to even modest changes to NAFTA.

UPDATE: Here is another official statement from the Canadian authorities, this one issued today, intended to douse the whole controversy:

The Canadian Embassy and our Consulates General regularly contact those involved in all of the Presidential campaigns and, periodically, report on these contacts to interested officials. In the recent report produced by the Consulate General in Chicago, there was no intention to convey, in any way, that Senator Obama and his campaign team were taking a different position in public from views expressed in private, including about NAFTA. We deeply regret any inference that may have been drawn to that effect.

The people of the United States are in the process of choosing a new President and are fortunate to have strong and impressive candidates from both political parties. Canada will not interfere in this electoral process. We look forward, however, to working with the choice of the American people in further building an unparalleled relationship with a close friend and partner.