Staking his claim as one of the few Democrats to speak against Hillary Clinton in any way, shape or form ahead of a presumptive 2016 campaign, Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick believes the air of inevitability around Clinton is “off-putting” to the voting electorate who want “their candidates to sweat for the job.”
The outgoing governor made the comments on “Meet The Press” to host Chuck Todd Sunday morning.
“You say you’re concerned about this air of inevitability, that’s it’s bad for the party,” said Todd. “Explain.”
“I think the narrative that it’s inevitable is off-putting to regular voters…I just think that people read inevitability as entitlement,” said the Massachusetts governor. “The American people want, and ought to want, their candidates to sweat for the job, to actually make a case for why they’re the right person at the right time.”
Prior to this, Patrick aimed his fire at the Democratic Party, saying that while election day was certainly a positive one for the GOP (and Citizens United), it was a bad day for “Democrats who don’t stand for anything.”
The outgoing governor kept up his criticism of the Democrats, telling the NBC News host many in his party made a “huge mistake” by running away from Obama and his policies.
“Is this soul-searching time for the party?” asked Todd.
“Election day was a good day for Republicans, a great day for Citizens United, and a bad day for Democrats who don’t stand for anything,” said Patrick. “When Democrats do stand for something, or as I have said in the past, grow a backbone and stand up for what it is we believe, we win.”
“You think Democrats made a mistake by running away from President Obama?” Todd followed up.
“I think it was a huge mistake…One problem the president has is that he doesn’t tell that story very well or very regularly. It’s not to say that everything has been solved or that we’ve reached the promised land, but we’re certainly better off than we were,” Patrick replied