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Obama Challenges Democrats To Take Action And Move On From His Presidency

Former President Barack Obama told Democrats  that they have a “right to be concerned” over the current state of the country, but also warned that they need to stop looking back reminiscing about his presidency if they want to move the party forward and make progress.

“Do not wait for the perfect message, don’t wait to feel a tingle in your spine because you’re expecting politicians to be so inspiring and poetic and moving that somehow, ‘OK, I’ll get off my couch after all and go spend the 15-20 minutes it takes for me to vote. Because that’s part of what happened in the last election. I heard that too much.”

Obama made his comments while speaking at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser.

“If we don’t vote, then this democracy doesn’t work,” Obama continued. The former president even laid partial blame on his presidency for distracting the public.

“I’ll be honest with you, if I have a regret during my presidency, it is that people were so focused on me and the battles we were having, particularly after we lost the House, that folks stopped paying attention up and down the ballot,” Obama said.