During a discussion with the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs on Wednesday, DNC Deputy Chair Representative Keith Ellison (D-MN) said President Obama is responsible for some of the Democratic Party’s failures in 2016 and “could have been a better party leader.”
Ellison was asked if President Obama was “responsible for some of the failures of 2016, and if so, how?” Ellison answered, “Yeah, he was.”
He continued, “[L]ook, I’m a great fan of President Obama. I totally voted for many things that he supported, Dodd-Frank, the Affordable Care Act, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, I can keep going, wonderful achievements. But, Barack Obama could have been a better party leader. And I think that the fact that he wasn’t, has put his legacy in jeopardy. … His legacy is the work that he has done, which I believe is tremendous. But, given that we do not — we lost a lot of state House seats, governorships, secretaries of states. His true legacy is in danger, and I think that he can’t say that he wasn’t part of those losses. I mean, who else?”
Ellison added that Obama should have been more visible in the 2010 and 2014 midterms, worked harder to help down-ballot Democrats in 2008, and raised money for state legislative races.
(h/t Grabien)
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