Chuck Schumer: Democrats screwed up by focusing on health care

Chuck Schumer: Democrats screwed up by focusing on health care
(Image credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) conceded Tuesday that Democrats made a mistake by using their 2008 electoral landslide to tackle health care reform instead of other issues more pressing to the middle class.

"Democrats blew the opportunity the American people gave them," Schumer, the third-ranking Democrat in the Senate, said during a midterm post-mortem at the National Press Club. "We took their mandate and put all our focus on the wrong problem — health care reform."

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Jon Terbush

Jon Terbush is an associate editor at TheWeek.com covering politics, sports, and other things he finds interesting. He has previously written for Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, and Business Insider.