Obama weighs in on Colombia trade flap

INDIANAPOLIS (Reuters) - Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama said on Friday he was surprised Hillary Clinton's strategist was representing Colombia on a trade deal the New York senator opposed.

Clinton, who is battling Obama for the Democratic nomination, this week accepted the resignation of Mark Penn as her campaign's top strategist after revelations he had met with Colombian officials to promote the trade agreement.

In his separate job as a consultant, Penn met on March 31 with Colombia's ambassador to discuss efforts to secure congressional approval for the deal.

"It was surprising to me that a high-ranking, if not the highest ranking member, of Sen. Clinton's team would be engaged in business activities and lobbying that was directly contrary to a position that Sen. Clinton had taken," Obama, an Illinois senator, told reporters in Indianapolis.

"I'm not surprised that Sen. Clinton found herself in an uncomfortable position as a consequence and I know that if staff of mine were putting me in that kind of position, I would get rid of them," he added.

It was the first time Obama has weighed in on the controversy since it erupted a week ago.

Both Clinton and Obama oppose the trade agreement, as do some labor unions.

Although Penn is no longer Clinton's strategist, her campaign said he would continue to provide polling and advice.

The winner of the race between Clinton and Obama will run against Republican Sen. John McCain in the November election to pick a successor to President George W. Bush.

The Clinton campaign brought up the Obama campaign's own trade controversy from last month, when the Illinois senator's top economic adviser discussed the North American Free Trade Agreement with a Canadian official.

A memo leaked to the media said the aide, Austan Goolsbee, played down Obama's public opposition to NAFTA by saying the candidate's comments were designed for a political audience. The Obama campaign said the memo was an inaccurate description of the meeting.

Clinton's campaign said Friday that Penn's demotion showed the Clinton campaign followed a higher standard.

Obama's campaign has rejected comparisons, pointing out that unlike Penn, Goolsbee is not a paid campaign adviser.

(Editing by Doina Chiacu)

(To read more about the U.S. political campaign, visit Reuters "Tales from the Trail: 2008" online at blogs.reuters.com/trail08/)