Tough talk, moderate action

We all do it: talk big to the folks at home about what we’re going to do, and soften when we come to the situation.

President Obama’s did it this week in a nuanced stand on the North American Free Trade Agreement during his Canadian visit. During the election he called for NAFTA's renegotiation. This isn’t the first time a President has spoken sternly, then lowered his stick.

James Polk did it in 1844 with “Fifty-four forty or fight.” In the election campaign he threatened war unless the US northwestern boundary was set at 54° 40’ N. The tough talk was aimed not at Britain and Canada but at voters who had set their sights on moving into the Oregon Territory.

Once elected, he agreed to extend the 49th parallel to the Pacific. Britain’s claim to the mouth of the Columbia would have given Canada the present day states of Idaho and Washington. 54° 40’ would have given the US north to the Alaska panhandle and deprived Canada of a west coast.

The 49th was an obvious compromise. It was already the border across the plains to the Rocky Mountains. Midway between the two opposing positions, it left things pretty much as they were.

Canada's leaders have done their own flip-flopping. In 1972 Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau ridiculed proposals for wage and price controls, then adopted them when re-elected. In 1984 candidate Brian Mulroney opposed free trade with the US. In 1988 PM Mulroney adopted it.

In a foreign policy speech, President John Kennedy stated “On the seal of the Presidential coat of arms, the American eagle holds in one talon the olive branch and in the other a bundle of arrows. We attend to give equal attention to both…”

In alternating arrows and olives, tough talk and conciliation, Barak Obama is not only following his presidential predecessors. He is continuing a tradition that has characterized both Canadian and American leaders on this continent we share.