‘Nothing Personal’: Obama Calls Warren 'Elizabeth' Again

President Barack Obama dismissed allegations about him having a “personal” battle with Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren. He said Thursday that his feud with Warren has “never been personal.”

Obama said that some of his “best friends” in the House and Senate disagreed with him on an Asia-Pacific trade deal even though they used to support him. He added that he could understand their concerns as previous trade deals had led to several problems including loss of jobs.

Obama’s push for going for an international free trade deal has not been accepted well by progressives like Warren. She believes that U.S. workers are going to be negatively affected by the deal.

Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown did not approve of the way Obama had reacted to Warren’s opposition to the deal. Brown suggested that it was “disrespectful” the way Obama had talked about Warren over the weekend. Brown criticized Obama for calling Warren by her first name, and said that the U.S. president would not have done so for a male senator.

Obama apparently did not pay any attention to the criticism and called Warren by her first name once again. “The issue with respect to myself and Elizabeth has never been personal,” Politico quoted Obama as saying. “It’s fun for the press to see if we can poke around at it, when you see two close allies who have a disagreement on a policy issue.”

Contact the writer: s.mukhopadhyay@ibtimes.com.au