Former President Obama tells Democrats to ‘toughen up’ and ‘stop looking for the messiah’

“I think it’s going to require a little bit less navel-gazing and a little less whining and being in fetal positions,” Obama said at a recent DNC fundraiser.

Former President Barack Obama expressed some tough love for the Democratic Party as it navigates the political climate of the MAGA takeover under President Donald Trump.

America’s first Black president urged his party to “get in there and do something” amid major victories for Trump and the Republican Party, including their “Big” bill that includes $3.8 trillion in tax cuts largely benefiting the rich, increased funding and enforcement of mass deportation and immigrant detentions, and historic cuts to social safety net programs, including Medicaid.

While speaking at a private Democratic National Committee fundraiser in New Jersey on Friday, Obama said that while he is not “surprised by what Trump’s done” or that “there are no more guardrails within the Republican Party” to stop him, Democrats have an opportunity to build on “momentum,” as Trump’s economic and immigration agenda are largely being rejected by the American public, according to polling.

“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 said at the fundraiser, reports CNN.

The 44th president of the United States showed little remorse or tolerance for “disappointed” Democrats, who are still reeling from Kamala Harris’ loss to Trump in the 2024 presidential election, and who have lost any legislative power in Congress.

“Stop looking for the quick fix. Stop looking for the messiah,” said Obama, who urged the party to focus immediately on upcoming gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey. “You have great candidates running races right now. Support those candidates,” he said.

Obama said the party members must ensure that the DNC has what it needs to “compete” in a more “data-driven, more social media-driven” election cycle. That will require “money and expertise and time,” he explained.

The former president, whose name is often evoked in Democratic politics as one of the few effective voices in the party, acknowledged the ideological debates occurring among Democrats.

“There’s been, I gather, some argument between the left of the party and people who are promoting the quote-unquote abundance agenda. Listen, those things are not contradictory. You want to deliver for people and make their lives better? You got to figure out how to do it,” said Obama.

Obama said Democrats are being called to “make some effort to stand up for the things” they think are right, as they also point out what they see as wrong with the leadership of the Trump administration and congressional Republicans. Democrats must be “willing to be a little bit uncomfortable in defense of your values,” he said. He continued, “And in defense of the country. And in defense of the world that you want to leave to your children and your grandchildren.”

If Democrats are successful in those endeavors, Obama predicted that by next year’s midterm elections, “we will rebuild momentum and we will position ourselves to get this country moving in the direction it should.”

Democratic strategist Joel Payne, who worked on Capitol Hill and served as a staffer for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, previously told theGrio that Democrats currently find themselves in a position of “harm reduction,” with the intent to mitigate “the worst possible outcome of Donald Trump.”

He continued, “I think it’s clear that having some share of power in government would be a very critical way to do that and to kind of stop the worst of Donald Trump and MAGA’s impulses.”

Democrats’ goal is to win back a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives or Senate; however, Payne cautioned, “Any Democratic lead would be razor thin, and that caucus would include a number of Democrats who are in districts where Donald Trump is popular.” He added, “It’s complicated.”

The Democratic insider said a win in the House would result in current Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries becoming speaker of the House–which he described as a “significantly better outcome” than Republican Speaker Mike Johnson’s control of the lower chamber of Congress.

Payne explained, “Democrats have the opportunity to slow him down. But I would just caution people to keep in mind that even on the slim chance Democrats are able to do that, there’s still a real uphill battle to stop the worst of Trump’s impulses.”