Bill Clinton suggests Democrats' economic message was key factor in electoral losses

In the wake of their resounding losses on Nov. 5, Democrats across the country are engaged in a bit of soul-searching to determine how things went so wrong for the left.

Among those recently critiquing their party's approach to this year's election cycle is none other than former President Bill Clinton, who recently admitted that the economic message liberal candidates were sending simply did not track with the experiences of everyday Americans, as Breitbart reports.

Clinton holds forth

The former president weighed in on the Democratic Party's recent drubbing at the hands of President-elect Donald Trump during an interview with NPR, and he took the opportunity to look inward at the missteps that yielded the result.

According to Clinton, Democrat candidates for office “can't keep asserting that things are great in the economy,” echoing sentiments frequently voiced by voters throughout the course of the presidential campaign.

Though the former president suggested that there are some facets of the economy that are indeed showing strength, he added that “we're saddled with some cost of living challenges – which are not unique to the United States – but it's pretty hard if you're out there in the middle of the country, and you're working hard and you've got two or three kids, and you have to watch every penny you make.”

Clinton continued, “And, secondly, the economic benefits of the current recovery have been widely shared where it has stuck. But it takes a while for people everywhere in the country to feel the benefits. People are not economic engines alone.”

Speaking to his party's broader failings when it comes to connecting with rank-and-file voters, Clinton mused, “And we Democrats have to learn to talk to people.”

Clinton not alone

The former commander in chief was far from the only Democrat who seemed willing to acknowledge the disconnect between the party's messaging on the economy and the very real concerns voiced by voters across the nation.

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo outlined a number of reasons he believed his party lost the White House but stated that at the top of the list was the fact that “The cost of day-to-day life was the pressing issue of the campaign -- and Democrats missed it.”

Cuomo observed, “Inflation, arguably caused by Biden, was crushing. Trump always led on the question of 'Who is better to handle the economy?' Sometimes the bottom line is the bottom line.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) leveled a similar criticism of the left, saying that its neglect of the electorate's economic pain is what led to the loss of the White House as well as the Senate, as The Hill noted. “It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them."

Even House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries concurred on the bleak post-mortem conducted on his party, saying, “My view is that we have to work decisively to address the economic challenges that everyday Americans are facing in this country” and adding that the economy “clearly is an issue that the American people have said loudly and clearly around inflation and high prices.”

Blame where blame is due

In addition to prominent Democrats mentioned above, former Hillary Clinton aide Philipe Reines has added another key angle to the self-reflective analysis, as The Blaze noted, recently lamenting the dramatically leftward shift his party has taken in recent years.

“Most Democrats I know thing there is a huge problem at the border. Most Democrats I know think, frankly, that males at birth should not play women's spots at vice versa,” Reines said, but whether the lion's share of liberal power players will heed what he is saying and embark on a course correction more in line with the concrete priorities of a majority of Americans, only time will tell.