Economic advisor Austan Goolsbee, right, listens as Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama answeres questions at a campaign stop in Albuquerque on Feb. 1. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)
by John McCormick
GARY, Ind. – Sen. Barack Obama's top economic adviser has taken a lower profile in recent weeks following a controversy over a conversation he had with Canadian officials in Chicago over the North American Free Trade Agreement.
But there is no question that Austan Goolsbee remains deeply involved with the campaign, based on an e-mail sent out by Obama's campaign today.
The e-mail was a copy of the Illinois Democrat's remarks, as prepared for delivery, for a town hall meeting here that focused on the economy. Near the end, was an accidental cut and paste of an earlier internal campaign message were a draft of the speech was being considered.
In that message, Goolsbee was listed first among a series of Obama aides and advisers that included Robert Gibbs, David Axelrod, Dan Pfeiffer, Jon Favreau, Heather Higginbottom, Ben Rhodes, Devorah Adler, Shauna Daly, Anita Dunn, Valerie Jarrett, Liz Oxhorn, Jen Psaki, Reggie Love and Bill Burton. (A past story about Goolsbee is linked here.)
Just 30 minutes from home, Obama told the audience here that he was thinking about busting out.
"This is the closest I've been to home in five days," he told those at Roosevelt High School. "I was thinking about making a break for it."
Showing his local acumen, he mentioned the South Shore Line train that would have him home in less than an hour.
"But we've got some work to do right here," Obama said, noting the unlikelihood of a trip home to Chicago's South Side before this weekend.






Comments
Why Not argue with these Economic professors , who say that Greshams Law of the 14th Century , Bad money ( Lower valued Currency , like China's as a Manufacturer of the products that trade in Higher valued Currency Markets , USA and UK ) is not the effect we are experiencing on our Economic Function of the way the Trade Agreement is functioning , shake it up , and while you are at it , make sure the Multi-nationalism of Corporate Greed , and embarrassment not even paying a Living wage to the working class , not a Health plan not a Stable wage at all in any form , but still able to Import Tariff Free , this is just a Mess this Greed of all forms of Greed , and the funny thing is they don't realize that without a Consumer in sound Financial condition , their market will devalue itself down to nothing ...which is what is happening right before our eyes , because they are doing nothing to sustain their own consumer stock . Its like trying to grow a Herd of new born Calves through the season Barack , this something I know about here , but , in order to have a Healthy and Vibrant herd of Calves growing through the summer , you have to maintain the Mother cows , keep the flies down , the lice in check , maintain the reproductive systems with the vaccinations needed , do all the things needed with feed to maintain a surrogate that can then grow the Calves , this is the same principles with How the Importing Corporate wonders , that are only interested in Profits , should be looking at the Consumers , making sure they are healthy Financially so they have a stable market to sell to year after year .
This Trade policy has been going on now for 14 years , and has not had a Solvent year yet . The IRS does not let a Taxable Entity Operate past 5 years , at a Loss , so why has this Trade policy been allowed to continue and run America Into the Ground , this goes against all the Capitalist Competitive systems and Operations ??????
I still think that all this devaluation process is due to trading with a Currency Fixer country like China , and a 18 cents to our dollar value difference , is in effect the very example of Gresham's Law of the 14th Century , Bad money , ( Lower valued ) drives Good Money ( higher Valued) out of circulation , if traded in the same market , so by Retail chains like the Big Box retailers having all their goods and services manufactured in the Lower valued country , and then able to Import tariff Free , into the higher priced market because of the currency exchange difference , with no fees paid into Infrastructures , and support mechanism , like SS and medicare , that would offset the loss in wage deductions if these Imported products were to have been made here in the USA , then we have a eroding effect , of money flows that do not spread into the masses enough to build and maintain sustainable growth in the higher priced markets like US and the UK , and look at how the market is eroding as the consumers purchasing power is eroding ..................the Trade policies of the USA need to be retooled to balance out these inequalities in the way the wealth of these trades are redistributing , and higher taxes won't work , because of the Loop holes that can be bought in our Government through the Lobbyists and Special Interests . Its time for Change before its too late ..........http://www.columbia.edu/~ram15/grash.html , in the teaching of Gresham's law of the 14th Century , which can be argued about the way we Interpret the way the Concept is possibly Integrated into the present Trade Policies we are Involved in , the one thing thats clear is when a currency is manipulated in whatever manner , for the reason of being controlling , it is a form of counterfeiting , like a trade partner that pegs a currency to another's for the benefit of taking that persons work away from them so they don't have to buy your goods , in balanced terms , like is the case with our biggest trade deficit holders China and India . http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/issuebriefs_ib137
The High Cost of the China-WTO Deal
Posted by: Tony | April 10, 2008 2:33 PM
So what is exactly the point of this article? I'd give it 2 thumbs down.
Posted by: nancy | April 10, 2008 2:56 PM
Obama felt like bustin out and going home to Kenwood and the garden lot with ornamental fence.
Still wonder did Obama pay the contractor for the fence. Rezko put it up but went broke before he could pay the fence contractor. According to a Sun Times story near the time Obama bought the Mnasion that the fence was unpaid and it cost $16,000.
Since he 's raised $234 million in his race maybe he could tap campaighn funds I always like to see legitimate businesses get paid.Okay Trib reporters found out if it is paid for. Let us know here on the Swamp. Jerry White, Springfield, IL
Posted by: Jerry White | April 10, 2008 3:36 PM
THE MEDIA LIKE AP-CNN AND MSNBC ARE SELLING OUT AMERICANS
[newsbusters.org]
Associated Press: Playing defense for Obama: Karen Hawkins and Christopher Wills of the Associated Press quilty of Wright-wash! In their articles Hawkins and Wills avoid any mention of the main tenets of "Black Liberation Theology that form the foundation and belief system of the Trinity United Church of Christ. AP pair purposely avoided any mention of inflammatory items in weekly bulletin articles published by the Church.
Nowhere in the story's 1,200-plus words was there any mention of the Church's belief system, which was outlined by McClatchy's Margaret Tavel on March 20: Obama’s church pushes controversial doctrines. Jesus is black. Merging Marxism with Christian Gospel may show the way to a better tomorrow. The white church in America is the Antichrist because it supported slavery and segregation. Those are some of the doctrines that animate the theology at the core of Obama’s church.
Wright said basis for Trinity’s philosophies is the work of James Cone, founded the modern black liberation theology movement out of the civil rights struggles of the 1960s. Particularly influential was Cone’s seminal 1969 book, “Black Theology & Black Power. Cone wrote that the U.S. was a white racist nation and the white church was the Antichrist for having supported slavery and segregation.
In the July 22 bulletin, in the "Pastor's Page" section, the Rev. Wright gave two pages of space to a colunmn by “Hamas TERRORIST Mousa Abu Marzook. The column originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times, which came under heavy criticism for running it. Among Marzook's many whoppers: A number of political parties today control blocs in the Israeli Knesset, while advocating for the expulsion of Arab citizens from Israel and the rest of Palestine, envisioning a single Jewish state from the Jordan to the sea. CAMERA.org wrote at the time that "that no Israeli parties in government advocate the 'expulsion' of Arabs; one calls for voluntary transfer."
A June 10 bulletin article, also in the "Pastor's Page" section, was written by terrorist sympathizer Ali Baghdadi. Among other things, Baghdadi wrote I must tell you that Israel was the closest ally to the White Supremacists of South Africa. In fact, South Africa allowed Israel to test its nuclear weapons in the ocean off South Africa. The Israelis were given a blank check: they could test whenever they desired and did not even have to ask permission. Both worked on an ethnic bomb that kills Blacks and Arabs. The KKK, on its worst day, never accused the ethnic groups it hated of attempting to concoct a "white bomb. Rev. Wright not only allowed these hate-filled diatribes to appear in TUCC's bulletins but supports as does Obama.
Posted by: DROP OUT OBAMA | April 10, 2008 5:17 PM
Jerry White and his anti-Obama stooge are sure throwing out the brain dead comments. Go back to school and study economics and then comment. Start with the Chicago School of Economics. I'd be impressed if you could figure it out without Google but we all know you can't. Education and intelligence. That's just a bit of what Barack and his advisers bring to the table.
Until then put a sock in it!!!
Posted by: Logic Prisoner | April 10, 2008 6:51 PM
I like the list of the "Obama Team - one economist (Goolsbee) and the rest on the list are "communications SPIN" people. Well except for his workout buddy. Says a lot about his campaign - its all in the marketing, just like the pet rock.
Posted by: Terry | April 10, 2008 8:35 PM