Obama says Dems need to quit ‘moping,’ warns against being too optimistic about midterm elections

Former President Barack Obama issued a stern warning to Democrats: Stop your moping and don't be too comfortable predicting midterm election season based on a few anomalies that have been favorable to Democrats.

What are the details?

During a speech  Thursday at a California donor event for the Democratic National Committee, Obama said that Americans are "right to be concerned" about the state of affairs in the U.S. and around the world, and for Democrats to stop feeling sorry for themselves.

"If you are one of these folks who is watching cable news at your cocktail parties with your friends and you are saying ‘Civilization is collapsing’ and you are nervous and worried, but that is not where you are putting all your time, energy and money, then either you don’t actually think civilization is collapsing," he explained, "or you are not pushing yourself hard enough and I would push harder."

“Enough moping, this is a mope-free zone,” the former president told the crowd, according to CNN.

Obama did not mention President Donald Trump by name, but warned that fear is a powerful tool of manipulation.

“Fear is powerful,” Obama said. “Telling people that somebody’s out to get you, or somebody took your job, or somebody has it out for you, or is going to change you, or your community, or your way of life — that’s an old story and it has shown itself to be powerful in societies all around the world. It is a deliberate, systematic effort to tap into that part of our brain that carries fear in it.”

The former president added that it's time to put democracy in action, rather than trying to usher the party under one leader to fix the system.

“Do not wait for the perfect message, don’t wait to feel a tingle in your spine because you’re expecting politicians to be so inspiring and poetic and moving that somehow, ‘OK, I’ll get off my couch after all and go spend the 15-20 minutes it takes for me to vote,’” Obama said. “If we don’t vote, then this democracy doesn’t work.”

“I would caution us from extrapolating too much from a bunch of special elections and starting to think, ‘OK, this will take care of itself,'” he added.

What else?

The California fundraiser on Thursday marks the former president's first public foray into politics in 2018.

He has reportedly met with several possible Democratic 2020 contenders in private since leaving office.

According to a Politico report, Obama will attend two more scheduled fundraisers on Friday in San Francisco for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the National Democratic Redistricting Committee.