There was always one policy area in which I thought the Clinton Administration did a reasonably good job, or, at least, had relatively-reasonable policy positions--trade policy.

Now the Bush Administration, after being on a hot streak of superior performance over the previous one, has stumbled badly.

At least Bill Clinton seemed to believe in free trade. It sickened me just now to hear Ari Fleischer trotting out the economically-ignorant phrase "fair trade."

Will anyone point out how many jobs this will cost us, or how many jobs won't be created as a result of this Administration's spineless refusal to explain and defend the Law of Comparative Advantage?

This is infuriating. I could understand this if President Gore were going along with it, but Bush?

I am from WV, specifically the northern panhandle, which has had its economy decimated by the closing of the mines and the end of the mill days. This probably will, in the very short run, help my state. It will probably help him in 2004, as well. Another political calculation might be to help break Democrat dominance in unions- they have been wooing them with ANWR and other things, but who knows.

Wrong is still wrong, and this is a major disaster, IMHO.