Deval Patrick: What Democrats ‘Believe Is What the American People Are Wanting’

TODD: "I want to shift gears here little bit to the future of the Democratic party. I want to play for you a bite from Senator Chuck Schumer who almost comes across as indicting the President Obama's first year in office because he said that health care was a mistake. Take a listen."

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SCHUMER: "The Democrats blew the opportunity the American people gave them. We took their mandate and put all of our focus on the wrong problem, health care reform ... But it wasn’t the change we were hired to make. Americans were crying out for the end to the recession, for better wages and more jobs, not changes in health care."

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TODD: "You agree with him?"

PATRICK: "Well, I respect senator Schumer, but, no, I don’t agree with him and I think Americans understand the interconnectedness of the whole host of the solutions the government should pay attention to and not that they think the government should solve every problem in their life, but that the government should help them help themselves. When you ask somebody who is not insured and is sick or someone who is getting buried by the health care related debt whether health care reform makes a difference and they will tell you that it does make a difference."

TODD: "Where is the Democratic party spill from here? Is this soul searching time for the party?"

PATRICK: "Well, it ought to be. I think the Election Day was a good day for Republicans and great day for the citizens united and a bad day for Democrats who don’t stand for anything. And when Democrats do stand for something or as I have said in the past, grow a backbone and stand up for what it is we believe, we win. Because what we believe is what the American people are wanting."

TODD: "Did Democrats made a mistake by running away from President Obama?"

PATRICK: "I think that was a huge mistake. This is the president who has presided over explosive growth in corporate profits, in stock market returns, employment that's come back strong after the worst economic collapse in a generation or two, universal health care, Bin Laden’s removal, and the end of two wars and on and on and on. And one problem I think that the president has is that he does not tell that story very well or very regularly. You know, the importance of the repetition is something that I had to learn and it's not to say that everything has been solved and we reached promised land, but we are certainly better off than we were."