President Obama gave a scathing critique of the modern Democratic Party during a fundraiser at the Beverly Hills home of a mega-donor Thursday.
The former president was reluctant, however, to take any of the blame for the current state of the Democratic Party. Obama admitted that the only regret he has after being head of the party for eight years was that people loved and focused on him too much.
But the majority of Obama’s speech was spent criticizing president Trump. One of the Trump policies Obama took issue with was his effort to kill Obamacare. The healthcare law is Obama’s cornerstone legislative achievement and has been chipped away at by the GOP since Trump’s inauguration.
“I am not surprised that instead of replacing what we had done with something better, they just have done their best to undermine and erode what’s already in place,” Obama complained at the event. “Of course people are going to be angry about that, because if you had health care and suddenly somebody who says they’re going to make it better comes in and makes it worse, you’ll be pissed. You should go out and vote.”
The quote is deeply ironic since Obama himself learned a harsh electoral lesson after promising to make health care “better” and ending up making it “worse.”
There were multiple instances during which Obama went on about how Obamacare would improve the American healthcare system. After passage, premiums rose and Americans were not able to keep their doctors. In response, the American public dealt the Democratic party crushing electoral defeats on virtually every level of government.
Obama continued, chiding 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.”
Late in 2017, the GOP repealed the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate in passage of the tax cuts.
