[Newspoetry] Clinton visits Harley Davidson plant

[William Gillespie]

President Clinton visited the Harley-Davidson plant in Pennsylvania this
week to raise support for global trade. At the event, sweating food
service workers scrambled to prepare and distribute nine thousand hot
dogs, nine thousand rolls, nine thousand cans of Pepsi-brand sodas, five
thousand bags of Lays potato chips, and one thousand pounds of baked
beans.

I'm 54 years old, and I've never seen a president," said Jethro
Blackwell, a material handler who's worked at Harley for seven years.
"The highest ranking guy I've ever seen was Pete Townsend in '66." Mike
Spangler, who's worked at the plant for 28 years, said, "They have a lot
more security than when Reagan visited." He supposed that's because more
people dislike Clinton. He's one of "them." "He's too damn liberal for
me," he said, "especially on the gun control stuff."

Clinton told Harley employees "we have to find a way to expand trade''
but "we will never be able to do it unless working people believe that
trade benefits ordinary American families," Clinton said, strutting
before the crowd of factoryworkers in a leather Harley jacket, as "Born
to be Wild" echoed over the PA system.."This factory is a shining
example of what Global Trade will do for the lives of American working
people. Exports of Harleys have been phenomenal. The rising profit
margins has far outstripped the rise in your wages. There is a demand
for American motorcycles overseas. The next step will be in moving the
entire plant overseas to, say, Indonesia where production won't be
slowed by our fine American labor rights and environmental law. Within
ten years, I predict, you will be able to buy this classic American
motorcycle as an import, paying a little bit more, but with drastically
increased profits for a tiny number of people, and none of you will have
a job."

Clinton's attempt to be photographed glossing the virtues of free trade
popular to the working class is in anticipation of the World Trade
Organization (WTO) talks to begin on Nov. 30 in Seattle. Tens of
thousands of people opposed to the WTO are expected to make loud
protests during the meeting. When delegates from more than 134 countries
gather to plot the future course of global commerce, they will be
confronted by a diverse coalition of militant environmentalists, angry
labor unions and Newspoets who see unchecked trade as a threat to
wildlife, the poor or their way of life. Clinton welcomed the prospects
of mass demonstrations. Before Clinton could elaborate on this point,
however, his voice was drowned out by a rising cacophony of flatulence
as the energetic crowd of factory workers digested 1000 pounds of beans.

Although he claimed that he would someday ride a Harley, President
Clinton did not eat a single hot dog.