The Free-Trade Divide

Barack Obama: "I would immediately call the president of Mexico, the president [sic] of Canada to try to amend NAFTA, because I think we can get labor agreements in that agreement right now."

Joe Biden: "Hey, look, a president's job is to create jobs, not to export jobs, and the idea that we are not willing to take the prime minister of Canada and the president of Mexico to the mat to make this agreement work is just a lack of presidential leadership."

Chris Dodd: "I think [NAFTA] requires modification. We also need to do something else here. . . . We need to stop exporting the jobs in the country that already are here."

John Edwards: "It needs to be fixed, but the first thing I want to say is NAFTA is a perfect example of the bigger problem. This deal was negotiated by Washington insiders, not by anybody in this stadium tonight. And the question is: When are we going to change it? It's cost us a million jobs."

All of that rhetoric would lead an incautious Democratic voter to expect this Democratic Congress to put NAFTA back on the legislative agenda. But don't hold your breath.

Levin told me that Peru has agreed to change its laws to guarantee "core labor standards."

As for any changes to NAFTA, Levin says, "That won't happen as long as Bush is president." He is right. And one has to question how seriously to take any of these comments from the Democratic hopefuls. As Bush reminded reporters, NAFTA was negotiated by his father, the first President Bush, but was pushed through a Democratic Congress in 1993 by President Bill Clinton. "NAFTA has made a difference in our hemisphere -- a positive difference. . . . NAFTA has worked," the president said. "What are they suggesting we fix?"

davidbroder@washpost.com