Lou Dobbs is a Hero

Last week, I authored an op-ed on the need for Congress to reject Rep. Rob Portman's nomination as U.S. Trade Representative, and now I've gotten some welcome reinforcement from CNN's Lou Dobbs. In the new edition of U.S. News and World Report, Dobbs hammers the Bush administration for its nomination, saying the Portman nomination "represents the administration's allegiance to failed trade policies that have led to the loss of American jobs, record trade deficits, and mounting, unprecedented trade debt."

He accurately notes that, "Portman's votes for the North American Free Trade Agreement, permanent trade relations with China, and all the recent bilateral trade agreements make clear that he is part of the problem, rather than an independent thinker who bases his policy decisions on the overwhelming evidence of the need for a solution."

More broadly, Dobbs points out that "Albert Einstein defined insanity as "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." Yet, "the United States continues to enter into similar free-trade agreements with countries and regions that allow corporate America to outsource plant, production, and jobs to other parts of the world."

I don't always agree with Dobbs on everything (take some of his rhetoric on immigration). But there's a reason why his ratings have gone through the roof. It's because he's speaking to average Americans' economic concerns in populist terms - something that most television blowhards are afraid to do. His work on trade has been heroic, and his column hits it right on the head. Congress must reject Portman.