During an annual retreat in Philadelphia, president Barack Obama had some unusual advice for a closed-door gathering of Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives: “Get informed,” but “not by reading the Huffington Post.”
“Keep your powder a little dry,” Obama said on Thursday, the same day the liberal website posted an opinion piece entitled “A Blueprint for Middle-Class Economics,” in which the president stated:
America's resurgence is real. With a growing economy, shrinking deficits, bustling industry, and booming energy production, we have risen from recession freer to write our own future than any other nation on Earth.
Now we have to choose what we want that future to look like. Will we accept an economy where only a few of us do spectacularly well? Or will we commit ourselves to an economy that generates rising incomes and rising chances for everyone who makes the effort?
According to an article written by Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post, a new pact “between the United States and 11 other countries is a big priority for the Obama administration, which has been working with congressional Republicans to give the White House the authority needed to complete the agreement in the coming months.”
“But many Democrats have said they won't ... give Obama new trade authority unless they can review details” of the broad Trans-Pacific Partnership before they vote, O'Keefe noted.
He also stated that the administration is keeping details of the agreement confidential, but Obama vowed Thursday night to work with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California to ensure that the lawmakers "can have access to more information about the substance of the agreements as they come together," according to one staffer familiar with the president's comments.
Pelosi and other top House Democrats have drawn a line in the sand, saying they won't support any new trade deal until the administration demonstrates that the result will be higher wages for American workers.
"The impact on the paychecks of America’s workers is the standard that we will use," Pelosi told reporters Wednesday.
“The issue has sharply divided the Democrats, as centrists tend to support the president's strategy while liberals have pushed back hard, citing concerns over currency manipulation, environmental problems, food safety and worker protection, among other things,” O'Keefe stated.
While fielding questions from fellow Democrats, Obama tried to defuse those concerns by asserting: "We share the same values and are looking out for the same people.”
However, Rep. Jan Schakowsky said on Thursday that the current draft of the pact is “a nonstarter with liberals.”
"As it is right now, … it would be unacceptable,” the Illinois Democrat told reporters a few hours before Obama's arrival.
"None of us … oppose a trade agreement," she added. “What we want is a good and fair trade agreement. And so, if the president is willing to share, and come back to the table, and we can make some changes, I think we would support that."
Also during the retreat, O'Keefe noted that “Obama took questions on such topics as infrastructure spending, higher education, the Affordable Care Act, funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs, criminal justice reform and national security concerns.”
In addition, the president “reiterated his request that Congress pass a bipartisan authorization of the use of military force to continue fighting against the threats of the Islamic State terror group.”
When asked his opinion of the Republican congressional agenda, the president said flatly: "The other side does not have an agenda."
Referring to the events that have taken place in Ferguson, Missouri, over the past several months, Obama said that a Justice Department task force exploring related concerns is expected to make formal recommendations in a few weeks. "This is something I feel strongly about," he said.
When Michigan Rep. Dan Kildee inquired about ongoing talks with Iran about its nuclear program, the president responded: "My simple request, which I do not think is unreasonable, is for Congress to let this play out for two to three months."
“But there is growing bipartisan support for legislation that would impose stricter sanctions on Iran if it fails to reach a new agreement with the United States and European nations,” the editor indicated.
Meanwhile, Sam Stein -- the political editor and White House correspondent for the Huffington Post --
complained about Obama's “off-the-cuff remark about a good media diet for Democrats to follow.”
The editor noted that this isn't the first time the president has criticized the liberal website. In July of 2011, Obama accused the site of viewing him as some kind of “right-wing tool of Wall Street.”
Soon after the president's remarks on Thursday, Stein fired back on Twitter by stating: “I guess Obama just doesn’t like us (but at least he’s reading!).”
