'Doesn't help to whine': Obama tells Democrats to 'take the wins you can get'

Former two-term president’s words come as party struggles to pass Joe Biden’s agenda

(Getty Images)

Former president Barack Obama met with House Democrats and told them not to complain about legislative setbacks but rather said they should take legislative victories as they come, Punchbowl Newsreported.

Mr Obama held a talk with Democrats via Zoom as part of their annual retreat, Business Insider reported, where he told Democrats “take the wins you can get" and that it "doesn't help to whine about the stuff you can't change.”

“Democrats have a tendency to complain about what we didn't get done rather than talking about what we did get done,” he said.

The former president’s words come as Democrats’ attempts to pass President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better legislation stalled. Sen Joe Manchin, a conservative Democrat from West Virginia, announced his opposition to the legislation – which included everything from an expanded child tax credit, provisions to combat climate change, affordable child care and home care for elderly people and people with disabilities.

Mr Manchin specifically cited the lack of a discussion of tax policy and rising inflation. He also said he would rather have the process go through formal committee hearings, despite the fact that the bipartisan infrastructure bill did not go through committee hearings the way he wants Build Back Better to.

“This is changing the whole social fabric of America and when you do that, you want all the input and transparency you can,” Mr Manchin told reporters on Thursday.

Mr Obama cited the birth pains that came with passing his signature health care legislation, sometimes called Obamacare, in 2010.

“If we can get some stuff done, some major domestic initiative, some progress on climate … there will come a point where you decide if you are getting nothing or getting that,” he told attendees.

Mr Obama has in the past criticised more progressive Democrats. After the 2020 elections, he chided “snappy” slogans like “defund the police”.