President Obama, in a pro-trade pitch originally aimed at bridging deep Democratic divisions on the issue, may have alienated more Democrats than he gained by dismissing Sen. Elizabeth Warren as flat-out wrong about the impact of a massive upcoming trade deal with Asia.
“I love Elizabeth. We’re allies on a whole host of issues, but she’s wrong on this,” Obama told MSNBC’s “Hardball” host Christ Matthews in an interview taped early Tuesday that will air at 7 p.m.
Matthews had asked the president why he thought Warren was “out there” saying that a massive trade deal that Obama supports would only help the rich get richer and leave everyone else behind.
Obama responded that critics, including Warren, don’t want the deal to happen, and that that’s why they are casting it as pro-big business and anti-middle class.
But the president argued that he wouldn’t be supporting it if he didn’t think it would benefit average Americans.
“Chris, think about it. I’ve spent the last six and half years yanking this economy out of the worst recession since the great depression,” Obama said in the interview, which was taped at the Fairfax Chamber of Commerce in Virginia. “Every single thing I’ve done from the Affordable Care Act to pushing to raise the minimum wage to making sure that young people are able to go to college and get good job training to what we’re pushing now in terms of sick pay leave.”
“Everything I do has been focused on how do we make sure the middle class is getting a fair deal,” he said. “Now I would not be doing this trade deal if I did not think it was good for the middle class. And when you hear folks make a lot of suggestions about how bad this trade deal is, when you dig into the facts they are wrong.”
The president last week said he understood why some Democrats have problems with big trade deals because of the regional impact they have had on job losses even if they’ve helped spur the U.S. economy as a whole.
Obama tried to persuade those in his party who oppose giving the president fast-track trade promotion authority to negotiate the deal with 11 Asian countries that he has learned from mistakes in past trade deals. He said his negotiators this time around have included far-reaching environmental, human rights and labor provisions.
MSNBC released only a brief transcript of Obama’s comments on trade and Warren but said the rest of the interview touched on the threat of Iran, the news that the U.S. has warships ready to intercept an Iranian weapons convoy off the coast of Yemen, Russian President Putin’s decision to sell missiles to the Iranians, and the terrorist attacks in Africa.
Matthews also moderated a discussion on the prospective Asian trade deal featuring Obama, Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va, and local small businesses owners.
