Obama Advisers Please the Right, But Not Much

Two 'pro-free-trade' centrists guide him, up to a point
By Jonas Oransky,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 1, 2008 6:23 PM CDT
Obama Advisers Please the Right, But Not Much
Austan Goolsbee is one of Barack Obama's top economic advisers.   (Getty)

If Barack Obama takes office, conservatives can take a small measure of comfort knowing that  two of his top economic advisers have generated angst on the left for being "centrist, pro-free-traders," writes Cesar Conda in the Weekly Standard. Austan Goolsbee and Jason Furman—the latter a Wal-Mart defender—have even earned praise from the likes of George Will. Still, Conda, warns, let's not get carried away.

"To date, they have shown little appetite for fighting for free-market views and appear perfectly comfortable working for a candidate who is running on a statist platform of protectionism and bigger government," Conda writes. Favorable reviews from admirers on the right will mean little if, for example, Obama gets into office and overturns NAFTA.
(More Barack Obama stories.)

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