Foreign Policy, Trade Take Center Stage on Eve of Ohio Democratic Debate

WASHINGTON — On the eve of an important debate in Ohio, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton touted her foreign policy credentials Monday following a weekend pounding by rival Barack Obama over a trade agreement that many voters in the Buckeye State blame for the state's economic problems.

Obama is a risky choice to lead U.S. foreign policy, Clinton said in a speech at The George Washington University, delivered amid a growing furor over a photograph circulated on the Internet of Obama dressed in Somali elder garments during a visit to northeastern Kenya, near the Somali border, in 2006. The gossip and news Web site, The Drudge Report, said the photograph was circulated by "Clinton staffers," a claim the Clinton campaign denied.

The economy and jobs are top issues for voters in Ohio, which holds its presidential primary in one week, along with Texas, Vermont and Rhode Island. And they are subjects that are likely to dominate the debate between Obama and Clinton in Cleveland on Tuesday evening.

Consequently, during the weekend, Obama criticized Clinton for supporting the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which is often cited by Ohioans as a reason for the loss of jobs in their state. And his campaign distributed mailers calling Clinton the "champion" for NAFTA during Bill Clinton's presidency, prompting her to scold her rival. "Shame on you," she said, noting her efforts to amend the trade agreement to prevent job losses.

"One million jobs have been lost because of NAFTA, including nearly 50,000 here in Ohio," Obama said Sunday. "And yet, 10 years after NAFTA, Sen. Clinton said it was good for America. Well, I don't think NAFTA has been good for America - and I never have."

But Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson, in a conference call with reporters Monday, sought to blunt such criticism, noting that Obama, when running for the Senate in 2004, had suggested that the United States benefits from exports under the NAFTA and the World Trade Organization (WTO).

"So I don't hear Senator Obama in Ohio these days saying that the United States benefits enormously from exports under the WTO and NAFTA," Wolfson said. "And I certainly haven't heard him say that the United States should continue to work with the WTO and pursue deals such as NAFTA. So you may want to ask him about the consistency of his record, especially considering the fact that even today he's not calling for NAFTA's repeal."

Seeking to further blunt criticism concerning NAFTA, Clinton on Monday delivered a speech in which she characterized Obama, a freshman senator from Illinois, as rash and inconsistent on foreign policy.

"He wavers from seeming to believe that mediation and meetings without preconditions can solve some of the world's most intractable problems to advocating rash, unilateral military action without the cooperation of our allies in the most sensitive part of the world," she said.

Obama has declared that he would be willing to meet with the leaders of Iran, North Korea and Cuba. He also has said he would consider unilateral attacks on terrorist targets in Pakistan if there is actionable intelligence.

Before the speech, Obama foreign policy adviser Susan Rice told reporters during a conference call that Clinton, a second term senator from New York, had shown poor judgment on a number of foreign policy issues, including voting to authorize the invasion of Iraq and supporting legislation declaring the Iranian National Guard as a terrorist organization.

"Those are critical foreign policy judgments," Rice said. "They are judgments that any candidate should be held accountable for. And obviously we look forward to Senator Clinton's explanation of how and why she got those critical judgments wrong."

Rice also blasted the Clinton campaign for allegedly distributing the photograph of Obama wearing a white turban and a wraparound white robe that had been presented to him by elders in Kenya during his 2006 visit to his father's homeland. She said it was an effort to be "divisive" in the Democratic presidential contest.

Obama campaign manager David Plouffe was even more critical, accusing Clinton's campaign of "the most shameful, offensive fear-mongering we've seen from either party in this election."

Wolfson, when asked by reporters whether the campaign had any role in the distribution of the photograph, replied, "No, not to my knowledge." He said the controversy was an attempt by the Obama campaign to "distract and divide" Democratic voters.