At a speech before a group of Democratic donors, former president Barack Obama had some more criticism for the current state of the Democratic Party with regards to its handling of the 2020 primaries, the New York Post reports.
At an event featuring nearly 100 donors, Obama spoke alongside Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez in Altos Hills, California. During the question-and-answer portion, he addressed concerns about the ongoing contest for the nomination by pointing out that Democrats “will not win just by increasing the turnout of the people who already agree with us.”
That, Obama said, is why he is “always suspicious of purity tests during elections,” apparently in reference to the increasingly far-left rhetoric that has been on the rise in the primary debates like the one that took place this Wednesday in Atlanta, Georgia.
He also said that Democrats as a whole need to “chill out” when it comes to such purity tests, arguing that all of the candidates share common ground on such matters as health care, education, and alleged global warming.
The former president’s rhetoric at this event is consistent with the tone he took at an Obama Foundation Summit in Chicago last month, where he explicitly criticized the “politically woke” culture of the far-left, particularly among the youth.
Obama’s relative silence during the primary process has contributed to the field’s instability and uncertainty; his former vice president, Joe Biden, was seen as the initial frontrunner early on but has been stumbling in recent months due to repeated gaffes and his age. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has been surging in national polls, but has been criticized for being too far-left.
Other candidates have risen and fallen quickly in what proved to be temporary phases, including former Congressman Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) and Senator Kamala Harris (D-Calif.)
The field’s instability grew worse with the unexpected entry into the race of former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick. Mega-billionaire and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is also expected to join the race soon, further disrupting the dynamics of an already-volatile field.