Sen. Sherrod Brown slammed President Barack Obama Tuesday — even hinting that his weekend attack on Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren for her opposition to a Pacific trade deal might be sexist — and only a sharp eye from the Ohio Democrat's aide kept him from going further.
Brown responded to a reporter's question about Obama's comments Saturday blasting Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who has been leading the fight against Obama receiving fast-track authority from Congress,
USA Today reports.
Warren and other
Senate Democrats dealt Obama a stunning defeat in blocking debate on legislation that would have given him the authority to complete the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership, a central plank of its pivot to Asia.
"You know, the truth of the matter is that Elizabeth is a politician like everybody else, and she’s got a voice that she wants to get out there,"
Obama told Yahoo Politics on Saturday. "I understand that, and on most issues, she and I deeply agree.
"On this one, though, her arguments don’t stand the test of fact and scrutiny," Obama said.
But Brown told USA Today on Tuesday that Obama was making the trade fight "more personal than he needed to.
"He shouldn’t have said that," he said, suggesting that President Obama was being sexist by not only using Warren's first name in his interview "when he might not have done that for a male senator."
Then, an aide gave Brown a sharp look, and he stopped himself, USA Today reports. "I’ve said enough."
The White House did not respond directly to Brown’s comments, according to the report. However, it noted that the president has referred to Brown and other male senators by first name over the years.
Josh Earnest, the White House spokesman, said Monday that President Obama stood by his Warren comments.
"He’s been blunt about his views on this topic and why he believes that Democrats should be supportive of a trade agreement that, if reached, would clearly be in the best interest of our economy and clearly would be in the best interest of middle-class families," Earnest said, USA Today reports.