You know the Obama presidency has reached its nadir when it loses the likes of left-wing Democratic Congressmen like Jim McDermott and Keith Ellison over TPP. Per The Hill:
“You and I can disagree about policy, but I can’t call you a bad person or impugn your motives or anything else — except at great risk,” Rep. Jim McDermott (Wash.), a liberal Democrat who’s undecided but leaning against the trade bill, said Wednesday.
“Civility in this business is important, because tomorrow I have to work with you, tomorrow I may need you badly,” he added. “A lot of people are standing around saying, ‘You know something, this is getting to be a personal thing, and that’s not the way we want to go here.’ … He went quite a ways with her and I think probably he won’t go that far again.”
Appearing Wednesday on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal” program, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) offered a similar critique, saying he was “disappointed” that Obama adopted an “insulting” tone toward Warren, while “acting like she has no legitimate point of view.”
“If I was trying to persuade a friend, I wouldn’t start out by saying how deficient they were,” said Ellison, a long-time opponent of trade deals who heads the Congressional Progressive Caucus. “If you want your friends to go for something, meet their concerns as opposed to putting them down.”
I never thought I’d see the day when McDermott and Ellison would become the voices of reason. But now they know how their Republican counterparts have felt for the past 6 ½ years and they don’t like it one bit.
