Obama talks often about the global economy — but never about wishing it away

In his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., Sen. John McCain alleged that Sen. Barack Obama's plan to create jobs amounted to "wishing away the global economy."

The accusation came as McCain was talking about how he would approach today's troubled economy.

"I know some of you have been left behind in the changing economy and it often seems your government hasn't even noticed," McCain said in the Sept. 4, 2008 speech. "Government assistance for unemployed workers was designed for the economy of the 1950s. That's going to change on my watch. My opponent promises to bring back old jobs by wishing away the global economy. We're going to help workers who've lost a job that won't come back, find a new one that won't go away."

So where's the evidence that Obama wishes away the global economy?

"He opposes free trade deals, threatens to unilaterally renegotiate NAFTA, playing on peoples' fear of free trade — wishing away the global economy," McCain spokesman Brian Rogers told us in an email exchange. "It's pretty straightforward."

But it's not actually that straightforward.

There's heaps of evidence out there against the charge. Obama regularly speaks not about doing away with the global economy, but competing more effectively in it.

In fact, Obama did so in his own acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in Denver: "Now is the time to finally meet our moral obligation to provide every child a world-class education, because it will take nothing less to compete in the global economy."

Here's Obama on August 1, 2008, in St. Petersburg, Fla.: "I refuse to accept that we cannot meet the challenges of our global economy."

And later in that same speech: "We can provide every child with a quality education so they have the skills to succeed in our global economy."

And on July 31, 2008 in Iowa: "And we'll help American manufacturers — particularly in the auto industry — convert to green technology, and help workers learn the skills they need to stay ahead in the global economy."

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Nissan just announced 9,000 layoffs in Tennessee “to avoid severe losses due to expected tariffs.”

And on June 16, 2008 in Michigan: "Almost a decade into this century, we still have no real strategy to compete in a global economy."

And on and on and on.

That doesn't sound to us like someone intent on wishing away the global economy. You may disagree with how Obama would approach the challenges of the global economy, but it's hard to argue that he's pretending it doesn't exist.

It's true, as Rogers alluded to, that Obama's rhetoric on free trade is often less enthusiastic than McCain's. He has criticized aspects of the North American Free Trade Agreement, and frequently courted voters who feel left out of the global economy.

For example, here's Obama speaking about trade policy in Berlin, Germany on July 24, 2008: "Trade has been a cornerstone of our growth and global development. But we will not be able to sustain this growth if it favors the few, and not the many. Together, we must forge trade that truly rewards the work that creates wealth, with meaningful protections for our people and our planet. This is the moment for trade that is free and fair for all."

So yes, Obama is not the most die-hard free trader there ever was. But that's a far cry from promising to "bring back old jobs by wishing away the global economy." He promises quite the opposite — to make the country more competitive in the global economy — and does it quite frequently. We find McCain's charge to be False.