Funny thing is that CAFTA is really not very important by itself. The countries involved are tiny compared to Mexico, much less the United States. The 'Rats see this as an opportunity to embarass the President and the protectionists see this as a chance to end any future free trade agreement.
Protect what? Minimum wage jobs in the US like the textile industry who employ non HS graduates and whose products cost 3-4 times than they should. Why would we want to protect jobs like those? We should be aiming higher for ourselves.