Essential Estrogen

There's been an elephant in the room with former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards as he has traveled first to western and now to eastern Iowan to unveil his plan for trade policies and labor. And this time, the elephant doesn't represent anyone from the Republican Party.

Yesterday, while Edwards stood with striking Teamsters at Standard Ready Mix Concrete Co. in Sioux City, an attempt was made to disrupt the rally. Mark Jensen, vice president of the company, drove a truck close to the event, left it running and unveiled a "Hillary for President" sign. Jensen also came equipped with a camera and began charging fees to rally attendees who parked on property he owned. The fees and tension led to a scuffle between him and union member Andrew Garlinghouse, and that led to a police report. If anything, however, the executive's actions stood as testimony to Edwards' own views on a trade policy set by "corporate and Washington insiders."

Edwards' own "smart and safe" plan was on the table today in Cedar Rapids at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers No. 405 Union Hall. No signs for Democratic rivals were unfurled at this event; however, few were left wondering exactly who was on the other end of the senator's remarks. While neither former President Bill nor current rival Hillary Rodham Clinton were mentioned by name, most of the labor-savvy crowd had little difficultly following Edwards' thinking -- especially when he began a more than 40-minute pummeling of the 1993 North American Free Trade Agreement.

"For years now Washington has been passing trade deal after trade deal that works great for these big multi-national corporations, but they're not great for America," he said to the 300 people gathered at the IBEW this morning. "For example -- here's one you know about -- NAFTA.

"NAFTA and the [World Trade Organization] provide extraordinary and unique rights for foreign companies whose profits are allegedly being hurt by environmental and health regulations. These companies have actually used them to demand compensation for laws against toxins, mad cow disease and gambling. They even sued the Canadian postal service for being a monopoly. Domestic companies would get laughed out of court if they tried to bring these types of cases. But they have private courts and we have -- in our trade deals -- created these rights for foreign companies."

Edwards pointed a finger at the Bush administration, but just as quickly removed it and picked up a broader brush.

"The trade policies of President Bush have devastated towns and communities across our country," he said. "But we need to be clear and honest about something: This is not just his doing. Like in a lot of things, he's made it a lot worse, but for too long presidents from both parties have entered into trade agreements like NAFTA, promising they'd create millions of new jobs and enrich communities. Instead too many of these agreements have cost jobs and devastated communities."

He went on to add that NAFTA, a program begun by then-President George H.W. Bush and eventually pushed through by President Bill Clinton, was a policy written by government and corporate insiders in Mexico, the United States and Canada.

"[The trade agreement] served their interests," he said. "It did not serve the interests of regular workers. It included unprecedented rights for corporate investors, but no labor or environmental protections in the core text. Over the past 15 years we have seen the growing inequality in the United States, in Mexico and in Canada."

Edwards' speech, coming just a day before he and other Democratic hopefuls present their plans at an AFL-CIO forum in Chicago, is calculated. While most pundits agree the AFL-CIO executive committee will not come together on Wednesday and make an endorsement at this time, the individual unions -- such as IBEW 405 in Cedar Rapids -- are a different story and are being courted heavily by all the potential nominees.

More information on Edwards' "Smart and Safe" trade policy can be found by visiting his website. An audio clip from the event today can be accessed below: