WORLD VIEW: "Why Washington Worries," by Fareed Zakaria, Newsweek, 23 March 2009. NATIONAL WEEKLY EDITION: "A Tougher Stance: The U.S. is dissatisfied with global markets," by Anthony Faiola, Washington Post, 16-22 March 2009.

Zakaria is right that Obama has done a masterful job of rejiggering a host of relations with the outside world. I too consider these changes necessary and good. But this emphasis on domestic and social issues WRT trade, right when global trade is experiencing its deepest drop in eight decades, is beyond self-destructive. Ron Kirk, nominee for U.S. Trade Rep, is the new poster boy for this approach. He's blaming foreign competition for our current woes. If Obama goes far enough down this path, it will not matter one whit how smart he is in other spheres. He will become a Hoover far more than Bush ever was. Nothing else he seeks to improve will survive the process, especially since so much of the world holds us responsible for the financial crisis. But Kirk is indicating that the administration, while not renegotiating NAFTA openly (don't forget the bad decision on Mexican truckers), won't be following through on Bush-started Free Trade Agreements. Instead, those will be subject to new criteria of "social responsibility." This alone is enough to make me rethink my vote for Obama. McCain would have done far less damage to our future simply by trying to do less to "fix" trade.