Treating Democrats Like Republicans

Dana Milbank cautions the president that his approach to persuading his fellow Democrats might well cost him the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal he’s been trying to secure:

Let’s suppose you are trying to bring a friend around to your point of view.

Would you tell her she’s emotional, illogical, outdated and not very smart? Would you complain that he’s being dishonest, fabricating falsehoods and denying reality with his knee-jerk response?

Such a method of a persuasion is likelier to get you a black eye than a convert. Yet this is how President Obama treats his fellow Democrats on trade — and why he’s in danger of losing.

The vast majority of lawmakers in his own party oppose him on trade legislation. Yet rather than accept that they have a legitimate beef, he shows public contempt for them…

Welcome to the show, Democrats. That’s how President Obama has been treating the Republicans for the last six years. Is it any wonder they’re hostile to him? When you pile that attitude on top of ordinary partisan opposition you get, well, what we’ve been getting for the last six years. It’s a sad commentary when your president would rather be right than president.

Every single Congressman is a mature successful individual each of whom has won his or her own election and in some cases has been winning them since President Obama was in grammar school. Not only do they deserve better treatment, it’s a more effective way of doing the people’s business.

7 comments… add one
  • CStanley Link

    A tie in to the post above this one: why should Obama behave any other way? He’s been rewarded his entire career for behaving this way.

  • Ben Wolf Link

    This is how a narcissist behaves — Milbank’s piece would make a good post for sending the OTB commentariat into a tizzy.

  • Ben Wolf Link

    I see the Democrats voted a big Fuck You to the President on fast track.

  • ... Link

    Finally, congressional Dems do something I agree with!

  • Note that the Senate Democrats aren’t voting against a trade treaty. They’re castng a vote of “no confidence” on the president’s ability to negotiate a good one. IMO that’s actually more significant.

  • Ben Wolf Link

    A number of Democrats want an effective enforcement mechanism against currency manipulation. There is no way the President can accept this as the other countries need to manipulate to drain demand from the American economy and the lobbyists who wrote the agreement know any move toward exchange rate parity will harm their employers’ profits.

  • PD Shaw Link

    @Ben, Everybody knows that the boat is leaking; everybody knows that the captain lied; everybody knows; everybody knows.

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