Senior Hillary Clinton strategist and pollster Mark Penn has resigned from the Clinton campaign after the Wall Street Journal reported that Penn had met with Colombian government officials to advise on the free trade agreement between Columbia and the United States. Senator Clinton is opposed to that free trade deal. From the Washington Post:

The event Williams is referring to is a meeting between Penn and the Colombian government as he sought to help them negotiate a bilateral free trade agreement between themselves and the United States. Clinton is on the record in opposition to the plan, and, Penn was forced to issue a quick apology once the news of his meeting was reported. Several labor unions called for Penn to be fired from the campaign, however, and it appears as though Clinton took the moment to rearrange her political operation.

Penn has really done himself some damage here, as he was fired by the Columbian government after his comments about his meeting being a “mistake”. I guess paying clients don’t like to be disowned publicly by the people they are paying. Many had been calling for Penn’s head in light of the ascendacy of Barak Obama, but Hillary had stuck with him (until today). I don’t see a major change in course for Hillary, but it was an embarassing gaffe by Penn in light of the unpopularity of NAFTA and other free trade deals, and Clinton’s attempt to distance herself from the free trade agenda.