Obama now a fan of trade pacts

On one measure -- actually, on several -- Obama is proving to be every bit the truth-challenged döppelganger to his candidate"original" that his predecessor was. Obama is now all for NAFTA ("no plans to renegotiate" -- contra his campaign promise) and, more, for new trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia, et al.).

This from the Christian Science Monitor, but it's everywhere in the MSM:

Besides that, Mr. Schott says, "He'll want the American people to understand how trade policy can be part of a strategy to promote economic development in poorer countries."

Nothing new here. As the Washington Post reported, candidate Obama began the flip-flopping years ago, and has never really stopped. Obama is a politician at the end of the day, and a Chicago politician at that -- meaning his primary obligations are to his own fiefdom. Bush was a Texas politician; they're just as notorious for the same.

Of course, that's "pragmatism" to a Democrat. A Republican doing exactly the same thing would be accused of "lying." I'm no Republican (nor Democrat), but that's the way the game is played, apparently.

I give Obama credit where it's due: He's (thus far) avoided the temptation to get involved in Iran (we'll see how long that lasts) and he hasn't invaded any other nation (yet).

But his economic policies are a disaster (one that will get worse, merely continuing what Bush started) that our children and grandchildren will be paying for as the years drag on, and his Middle Eastern policy, except for some tough talk with Israel, is more of the same. (We'll be withdrawing in 2011 -- er, make that 2012, and we won't withdraw about 40,000 -- make that 60,000 -- troops whom we'll station in the countryside, etc.) The war in Afghanistan will apparently be long and bloody.

I am still praying for the man, still hoping (against hope?) that he won't sink us even further than the disastrous Bush administration did.