Warren Has Irked Obama Before, But Trade Deepens Their Rift
WASHINGTON (AP) -- When President Barack Obama huffed that Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts senator and established liberal star, was a "politician like everybody else" he revealed a rift that predates the current hostilities between the two Democrats over trade.
Though occasional allies, Warren has been aggravating the Obama administration since her pre-Senate days when she chaired an oversight panel charged with being a watchdog over the massive federal bank bailout.
But the dispute over Obama's efforts to get trade negotiating authority from Congress and complete a 12-nation Pacific rim trade deal goes to the heart of a fundamental divide within the Democratic Party. It also has turned the tables in Congress where Democrats once delighted in watching Republicans struggle with their conservative tea party faction.
Now it's Republicans who are amused and making the most of a Democratic split.
"You've got the energy of the Elizabeth Warren faction kind of driving the agenda" for Democrats, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Wednesday on CNBC. "I want to compliment the president -- the way he took on the base, he took on Elizabeth Warren, he took on the labor unions."
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