Obama hired Jason Furman as chief economic advisor for the campaign.  Public Citizen’s trade blog dredged up the news that a Max Baucus staffer, Jim Messina, also joined the Obama campaign.

Baucus is a free trader. 

Baucus, of course, is the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. In the Senate, Finance has jurisdiction over trade. This is, shall we say, inconvenient for fair trade activists since Baucus deep down (and not so deep down) thinks the NAFTA-WTO model is just fabulous (with a few labor and environmental carrots thrown in). 

Messina was likely hired for his campaign organization know-how, not his trade policy positions. 

But Obama’s Ohio NAFTA bashing is unlikely to come back anytime soon.  He is tacking back to the center on trade.  The public needs to keep Obama, and Congress, out of more bad trade deals.  We will get some polite listening, but there is no principle guiding them right now. 

Trade is the third rail, and we must keep the electricity on. In the end, it is the voters.