At least, for the foreseeable future. So says an article in yesterday’s New York Times:

In recent months, nearly 100 newspapers in the United States have endorsed the Colombia trade agreement. So have many top Democrats, including Mayor Richard M. Daley of Chicago. And Mr. Uribe, who was already popular in Congress, was widely lionized after the dramatic rescue of hostages in Colombia on July 2.

Yet the trade agreement remains a long shot, because of opposition by American labor unions, Democratic leaders in Congress and Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.

“I am not optimistic that the Congress will have an opportunity to review the bill this year, unless something unforeseen or dramatic occurs by the administration,” said Representative Charles B. Rangel, the New York Democrat who is chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. “I don’t think they handled this correctly.”

   It doesn’t say much that 100 newspapers have endorsed the deal–the editorialists of most newspapers have always supported so-called "free trade" because they would rather cheer for ideology than reality. But, whatever. It isn’t so much, as Rangel (a regular supporter of so-called "free trade") says, that it wasn’t handled correctly–it is simply that the deal is bad for workers in Colombia, particularly union leaders who frequently turn up dead.

   It should still be of concern, though, when one reads passages like this:

As the price for approval of the Colombia deal, Representative Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker and a California Democrat, demands specifically that the administration expand programs for American workers. She blocked the agreement from coming to a vote in April, infuriating Mr. Bush.

Her aides have not set a specific price, but some Democrats say it would have to be at least $30 billion for items such as worker training, children’s health programs, unemployment benefits and expenditures on roads, bridges and infrastructure.

   The worker re-training promise, as a trade-off for a vote, is really fool’s gold, as I’ve pointed out before.

   My friend Thea Lee has one of the better quotes in the article. Somehow, there were some murmurings that the hostage rescue in Colombia would help the so-called "free trade" deal:

“I don’t understand why people are even raising the hostage issue,” said Thea M. Lee, public policy director of the A.F.L.-C.I.O. “The concerns are about workers and conditions of workers in Colombia.”

   Indeed, Thea might have said "stop grasping at straws" but she’s too nice.