President Obama dings Senator Elizabeth Warren with ‘politician’ smear
President Obama gave an extensive interview to Yahoo News’ Matt Bai. Obama is generally very deferential to those who oppose his policies without getting personal or without questioning motives too deeply. What stood out with part of the interview with Matt Bai is that it seemed he wanted to knock Elizabeth Warren down a notch.
Last Tuesday Elizabeth Warren said the following with regards to the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP)
This is hardly a hypothetical possibility: We are already deep into negotiations with the European Union on a trade agreement and big banks on both sides of the Atlantic are gearing up to use that agreement to water down financial regulations … After fighting hard to protect Dodd-Frank for years, Democrats in the next few weeks could give Republicans the very tool they need to dismantle Dodd-Frank,” Warren said in her speech. “Anyone who supports Dodd-Frank and who believes we need strong rules to prevent the next financial crisis should be very worried
When Matt Bai asked the President about her quote he snapped back. “She is absolutely wrong,” President Obama said.
The President went on to deny that the TPP would be bad deal. He stated that it would be stupid of him to negotiate a deal that reversed all middle-class centric policies he had put in place. He did not present any specific details that eliminated the possibility of the negatives touted by the opponents to the Trans Pacific Partnership agreement. Instead he subtly attempted to smear Elizabeth Warren.
“The truth of the matter is that Elizabeth is, you know, is a politician like everybody else,” President Obama 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.”
Most treaties of this type are negotiated with heavy input from business and little input from labor. They have all been bad for the American worker. They do not work because high wage countries with environment regulations cannot compete with slave labor countries. These agreements open markets for corporation whose inputting commodities are cheap workers, ‘USA workers need not apply’. Learn more about the TPP here.