President Obama said Tuesday that he’s not someone who “bleeds Democrat,” and that he still believes in the spirit of bipartisanship that he tried to reinvigorate when he came to office in 2009.
“Look, I recognize I’m head of the Democratic Party and that necessarily makes me a partisan, but I’m actually not somebody who bleeds Democrat,” Obama said during a fundraiser Tuesday night at the New York City penthouse of a major Democratic fundraiser, according to a pool report.
“I think back to 2008 and I meant what I said,” he said to audience members who each contributed $16,700 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to hear him speak.
“I don’t think a party traditionally has a monopoly on what’s right. I come from the Land of Lincoln,” he said, referring to Illinois’ nickname. He also noted that President Nixon established the Environmental Protection Agency, and President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act with the help of a “whole bunch of Republicans.”
That history means the partisan gridlock of late is “not inevitable,” he said. If Americans want it back, they will have to vote on Election Day.
“And that is why you have to take this race so seriously; it is a cliché that every election is the most important in our lifetime,” he said. “But I gotta tell you, this one? This one counts.”
Obama reiterated his stump criticism of GOP nominee Donald Trump and congressional Republicans before saying how surprised he is that the race between Trump and his former secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, is so tight.
“The presidential race we should win but Donald Trump got the nomination, so weird stuff happens,” Obama said. “The House, we have a chance to win because the Republican nominee has revealed the dysfunction of that party for quite some time, but it’s hard because of gerrymandering and entrenched incumbents; it’s gonna be challenging.”
Obama said he is working hard to elect Clinton for the next generation.
“In six months I’ll be private citizen once again, but I have two daughters,” he said. “And I genuinely believe that the basic character of this country and our capacity to meet all the challenges you’re aware of is dependent on what happens now.”
