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Former President Barack Obama has urged disillusioned Democrats to quit “navel-gazing” and “whining” in a call to stand firm against the Trump administration.
The 44th president offered his blunt perspective as he returned to the fundraising circuit at a private event in New Jersey on Friday, telling his party to “toughen up.”
Obama has made only a handful of public interventions since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term.
Last month, he said the U.S. is “dangerously close” to an autocracy amid Trump’s immigration crackdown and battles with the courts.
His latest comments, first reported by CNN and confirmed by MSNBC, appear to be directed at Democratic Party officials and activists ahead of gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia in November.
Arguing the gubernatorial contests could be “a big jumpstart for where we need to go,” Obama implored Democrats to “stand up for the things that you think are right.”
He said: “I think it’s going to require a little bit less navel-gazing and a little less whining and being in fetal positions. And it’s going to require Democrats to just toughen up.”
Obama added: “You know, don’t tell me you’re a Democrat but you’re kind of disappointed right now, so you’re not doing anything. No, now is exactly the time that you get in there and do something.”
“Don’t say that you care deeply about free speech and then you’re quiet,” he went on. “No, you stand up for free speech when it’s hard. When somebody says something that you don’t like, but you still say, ‘You know what, that person has the right to speak.’ What’s needed now is courage.”
Addressing complaints about a lack of clear Democratic Party leadership, Obama told those attending the event at term-limited New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy’s home to “stop looking for the messiah.”
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Referring to the Democratic nominee for governor in New Jersey, Rep. Mikie Sherrill, and the party’s pick for that office in Virginia, former Rep. Abigail Spanberger, the ex-president said, “You have great candidates running races right now. Support those candidates.”
Obama added he is not “surprised by what Trump’s done” nor by the lack of “guardrails within the Republican Party.”
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