President Barack Obama is a "very, very talented" leader, but he still masked many of the problems Democrats were having within their own party, and Americans want change, Rep. Tim Ryan, who lost a bid to replace California Rep. Nancy Pelosi as House Minority Leader last week, said Wednesday.
"Well, we have had a tough election and I think a tough few years," the Ohio Democrat told Fox News' "Fox & Friends" program. "Clearly, there are a lot of people in our party who think we need to make some changes.
"I will say that we've made some changes internally within our caucus. We've opened it up. We're starting to elect people for positions now as opposed to appoint them. Leader Pelosi adopted a lot of the reforms that many of the newer members were pushing and that I made a part of my campaign."
After winning her party's leadership bid, Pelosi commented that she doesn't think Democrats are seeking a new direction, because "our values unify us" through focusing on supporting America's working families.
However, Ryan told the program that many Democrats in the Midwest either voted for Donald Trump or stayed home because Hillary Clinton and others in the party didn't talk about economic issues, jobs, or wages.
"We can't just focus on the minimum wage and an increase in the minimum wage, which of course, I'm for and many Democrats are for, but we need to talk about middle class wages and the fact that over the last 30 years, income growth has gone to primarily the top 10 percent," Ryan said.
"The bottom 90 percent, the working class families, have not seen a raise in 20 or 30 years. That's unacceptable for us as Democrats."
Ryan also said Wednesday that there is a debate coming on whether to grant a waiver to allow retired Gen. James Mattis to serve as secretary of Defense, but he'd support the waiver and Mattis.
"I don't think we need to be in the position as Democrats as just fighting every single thing that happens," said Ryan. "I think he's a capable person. We've been watching him for a long, long time.
"I think he would make a good secretary of Defense, barring any crazy statements that he may make or something like that."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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