‘Little Less Whining’: Obama Says Dem Party Needs To ‘Toughen Up’

Former President Barack Obama said Friday that Democrats need to “just toughen up,” CNN first reported on Monday.

Obama also asserted that he thinks fellow Democrats need to do “less navel-gazing” and “whining,” according to CNN. The former president added that Democrats need to “stand up for free speech” even when it is “hard.”

“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 the fundraiser, CNN reported. “And it’s going to require Democrats to just toughen up.”

“You know, don’t tell me you’re a Democrat, but you’re kind of disappointed right now, so you’re not doing anything. No, now is exactly the time that you get in there and do something,” Obama said. “Don’t say that you care deeply about free speech and then you’re quiet. No, you stand up for free speech when it’s hard. When somebody says something that you don’t like, but you still say, ‘You know what, that person has the right to speak.’ … What’s needed now is courage.”

Obama gave the remarks Friday evening at a private fundraising event hosted by term-limited Democratic New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and his wife, Tammy Murphy, in Red Bank, New Jersey, according to CNN. His comments come as Democrats are attempting to regroup