President Barack Obama held a press conference at the White House on Monday, during which he commented on the current state of the Democratic Party.
Despite reports of in-fighting among DNC staff and a contentious battle between prospective new chairmen, Obama maintained that its “healthy” for the party to take a look at itself in the wake of Hillary Clinton’s election loss.
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“With respect to the Democratic Party, look, as I said in the rose garden right after the election, when your team loses, everybody gets deflated and it’s hard and it’s challenging,” POTUS noted. “I think it’s a healthy thing for the Democratic party to go through some reflection.”
“I think it’s important for me not to be big-footing that consideration,” Obama added. “I think we want to see new voices and new ideas emerge. That’s part of the reason why, I think, term limits are a really useful thing.”
Obama explained that “Democrats should not waiver on our core beliefs and principles” before rattling off some of the ideals that helped launch his successful presidential bid in 2008.
“The belief that we should have an economy that works for everybody, not just a few. The belief that America, at its best, is inclusive and not exclusive. That we insist on the dignity and God-given potential and worth of every child, regardless of race or gender or sexual orientation or what zip code they were born in. That we are committed to a world in which we keep America safe, but we recognize that our power doesn’t just flow from our extraordinary military, it also flows from the strength of our ideals and our principles and our values.”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated.