Is Barack’s rhetoric Maytag dependable?

Barack Obama has used Maytag as an example of corporate greed and outsourcing of American jobs ever since he began running for his seat in the U.S. Senate. In fact, if you search the BarackObama.com domain name for the term “Maytag”, you get dozens of mentions of Maytag in Obama's speeches. Let’s check the facts on some of his statements:

“More to do for the workers I met in Galesburg, Illinois, who are losing their union jobs at the Maytag plant that's moving to Mexico, and now are having to compete with their own children for jobs that pay seven bucks an hour.” –At June 4, 2005, Democratic National Convention.

Fact: Fewer than half the Galesburg jobs went to Mexico. Even more were relocated to Maytag’s Amana, Iowa plant. This happened not long after Maytag acquired Amana Appliances to fix its uncompetive refrigeration platform. Most of the job losses in Galesburg were due to efficiency gains because of the acquisition, not because Maytag opened a factory in Mexico. In fact, over 90% of Maytag Appliances' employees were in the United States, even after the Galesburg closing, when all major competitors had operations globally. Maytag’s lack of global operations and high cost structure are what eventually led to the company’s financial downfall, which ultimately led to the company’s buyout by Whirlpool Corporation.

"I’ve met Maytag workers who labored all their lives only to see their jobs shipped overseas; who now compete with their teenagers for $7-an-hour jobs at Wal-Mart."

Fact: Maytag had no operations overseas when this comment was made. All but two of its factories were in the United States - the others located in Mexico. One of the two Mexico plants, Maytag’s Hoover vacuum plant in Mexico, was there before Maytag even acquired Hoover - and long before NAFTA was signed into law.

EVEN MORE OUTRAGEOUS...
"I spoke with workers in Newton who were watching their Maytag plant close down and their shops get shipped overseas. Try telling them to pull themselves up by their bootstraps."

Fact: After Whirlpool purchased Maytag, it announced the closure of three manufacturing plants in Iowa, Illinois and Arkansas. These jobs were moved to Michigan and Ohio, not overseas. (See: http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=97140&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=854799&highlight=)

And what about the second Illinois plant - in Herrin - that closed after Barack was elected to the U.S. Senate? This plant closing was announced at the same time as the Newton, Iowa closing. There was no outrage in any of his statements, just a few press releases about Department of Labor benefits for former Maytag employees. I guess it doesn't help his job creation record to point out losing jobs to other states, but he doesn't shy from making political points by politicizing the same Maytag closure announcement in Iowa, coincidentally right before the Iowa caucuses.

Barack Obama’s strategy to stop globalization must be to pick on struggling American companies so much that they end up in Maytag’s position – becoming so uncompetitive that it was bought out by a competitor. That worked out well for Illinois didn’t it – Whirlpool shut down everything left in the state. Now there’s a job creation/protection record.

I wonder if the union leadership in Herrin agrees with what the head of the Galesburg union said in the Chicago Tribune:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/chi-galesburg_obama_webfeb01,1,900662.story