With a heavy dose of condescension, President Obama went after Senator Warren today, attacking both her critical thinking skills and her integrity in one fell swoop.
From an interview with Yahoo News! (Video Here)
“She’s absolutely wrong,” Barack Obama said, before I could even get the question out of my mouth.
He was talking about Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts senator and populist crusader whom Obama helped elevate to national prominence. Warren generally reserves her more acid critiques for Republicans and Wall Street, but in recent weeks she’s been leading a vocal coalition of leftist groups and lawmakers who oppose the president’s free-trade pact with 12 Asian countries.
This past week, as I had just reminded Obama, Warren launched her heaviest torpedo yet against the trade deal, alleging that some future president might use it as an excuse to undo the reregulation of Wall Street that Obama signed into law in 2010. In fact, as the White House quickly pointed out, language in the pact would expressly prevent that unless Congress voted to allow it.
Three days after that broadside, when we sat down at Nike’s headquarters outside Portland, Ore., Obama still seemed unusually irritated.
“Think about the logic of that, right?” he went on. “The notion that I had this massive fight with Wall Street to make sure that we don’t repeat what happened in 2007, 2008. And then I sign a provision that would unravel it?
“I’d have to be pretty stupid,” Obama said, laughing. “This is pure speculation. She and I both taught law school, and you know, one of the things you do as a law professor is you spin out hypotheticals. And this is all hypothetical, speculative.”
Obama wasn’t through. He wanted me to know, in pointed terms, that for all the talk about her populist convictions, Warren had a personal brand she was trying to promote, too.
“The truth of the matter is that Elizabeth is, you know, a politician like everybody else,” he said. “And you know, she’s got a voice that she wants to get out there. And I understand that. And on most issues, she and I deeply agree. On this one, though, her arguments don’t stand the test of fact and scrutiny.”
So, Senator Warren is just confused and doesn't understand the facts. Or she does, but she's trying to build her political brand and this helps get her name out there. Heck, let's go for both, even though one contradicts the other.
It's been a long time since Obama has said or done anything that left a sour taste in my mouth. He's usually a class act, even when his foes are not.
For me, this is bigger than TPP, whether you agree more with Obama or Warren. This is a demeaning way to undercut the credibility of a public servant, especially one who is on your side.
Warren deserves better than this from our President.
UPDATE: The original diary included my feelings that there misogynistic undertones to Obama's broadside against Warren, which I felt strongly while watching the video. Upon reading the comments, I agree that including that angle has distracted from the overall intent of the diary and I've edited the diary to remove those components.