If no one else in the U.S. can do business in Burma (Myanmar), why is it ok for George W. Bush's website to do so? After all he's the one who put the sanctions against Burma in place.
Despite his campaign's claims to the contrary, it is exceedingly diffilcult to imagine a set of circumstances where NewsDay just happened to receieve the only fleece pullover made in Burma out of all of the merchandise available through the website.
So what's the big issue? I see a couple of them. First, is shows that the President's re-election campaign doesn't care where it gets its merchandise. It isn't interested in following its own trade regulations, and it certainly isn't interested in using American-made products.
Combined with joblesses in many sectors of the economy due to offshoring and outsourcing, this episode is particularly damning. Thousands of textiles jobs across the country have been lost to overseas locations, particulaly in the Carolinas. Using cheap products from nations with questionable human rights records and sweat shop labor clearly shows where the President's priorities lie. And they aren't with American workers.
Posted by Chris at March 24, 2004 02:27 PM