On Friday, a desperate President Obama went over to the Capitol trying to persuade Democrats to vote "yes" on the trade deal. They didn't!
President Obama struck out twice:
He lost 140 of 180 something Democrats. We have not seen so much losing since the 1962 Mets; and more importantly;
He turned off a few Democrats, such as Congressman DeFazio:
"The President tried to both guilt people and impugn their integrity. I was insulted," Rep. Peter Defazio, D-Oregon, told reporters after the meeting.One House Democrat told CNN on the condition of anonymity that in Friday's meeting, Obama "was fine until he turned it at the end and became indignant and alienated some folks. Bottom line, he may have swayed some Ds to vote yes, but Pelosi sealed the deal to vote no."Another House Democrat said Obama's last-minute lobbying effort "absolutely" hurt the bill's chances."Democrats believe they often are taken granted and not appreciated," this House Democrat said. "There was a very strong concern about the lost jobs and growing income inequality. Unions are the last line of defense. A number of reporters have asked whether Democrats felt threatened by the unions. Most told me that they wanted to do nothing to further weaken unions."Added this member of Congress, pointedly: "Ms. Clinton should take notice."
As an Obama critic, I know where Mr De Fazio is coming from.
President Obama does not understand that there are people with honest disagreements. In other words, these disagreements have nothing to do with his skin color. They have to do with the policies that he is presenting, or in some cases, trying to implement by executive order.
Also, this trade deal defeat tell us two more things:
1) President Obama does not know to negotiate or govern. He knew months ago that many Democrats were concerned about a free trade agreement. He also knew that many free trade supporters like me did not like all of the secrecy. I love free trade but please let me read the deal so that I can understand what's in it. President Obama should have been meeting with both parties and settling these differences.
2) President Obama, and most in the media, do not understand just how far to the left the Democrats have gone. We used to say that this is not the Truman party anymore, specially on national security. We can now say that this is not even the Clinton "free trade" party, specially when you hear Mrs Clinton pander and pander to the left.
Yes, governing is hard, very hard work. However, it gets harder when we have a president who does not respect anyone who disagrees with him, and then talks down to them like little children.
Let me paraphrase an old line: If you live by demonizing, you will die by demonizing.
P. S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.
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