President Obama gave a scathing critique of the modern Democratic Party at a fundraiser Thursday in Beverly Hills at the home of a mega donor. Obama chided Democrats for “moping” at “cocktail parties.”
Obama said, “If you are one of these folks who is watching cable news at your cocktail parties with your friends and you are saying ‘civilization is collapsing’ and you are nervous and worried, but that is not where you are putting all your time, energy and money, then either you don’t actually think civilization is collapsing … or you are not pushing yourself hard enough and I would push harder.”
Obama continued, “Enough moping, this is a mope-free zone.”
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During the Q-and-A session, Obama was asked if he has any regrets over his eight years.
“He almost accepted some of the blame for the state of the party,” Politico reported, before noting that Obama then blamed the state of the DNC on “neglect” by party leaders.
Obama then admitted that his regret was that people focused too much on him while he was in office.
“I’ll be honest with you,” Obama said, “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.”
In his introduction of Obama, DNC chairman Tom Perez called him the “real president of the United States.”
Obama ended his remarks with a dire warning to Democrats, asking them to stop worrying and get out and do something that inspires people:
“All these people that are out here kvetching and wringing their hands and stressed and anxious and constantly watching cable TV and howling at the moon, ‘What are we going to do?,’ their hair’s falling out, they can’t sleep. The majority of the American people prefer a story of hope. A majority of the American people prefer a country that comes together rather than being divided. The majority of the country doesn’t want to see a dog-eat-dog world where everybody is angry all the time.”