Barack Obama's former White House communications director, Jen Psaki, acknowledged on Wednesday that Democrats are not listening to voters' concerns.
CNN host Jake Tapper asked Psaki, who worked on both of Obama's presidential campaigns and later served as the spokesperson for the State Department, how Obama was able to tap into the anger of voters to garner their support.
"People felt that he was conveying that he was fighting for them and that he had a very specific message to people who were struggling, people who felt hopeless that he was going to be their guy fighting for them" Psaki said.
"Hillary Clinton had plans and papers that were coming out of her ears," Psaki said. "She talks about it of course in the book, but she never made that direct connection to people and part of that I think is probably not listening to people and hearing what is happening in the country."
She went on to say that Clinton is not the only Democrat guilty of doing this, adding that many Democrats seem to have not learned "all the right lessons."
"What President Obama consistently did in 2008 and 2012 was say, 'I'm fighting for you and you're the guy and the gal who when I go to the White House I'm going to fight for.' People believed that and they bought it," Psaki said.
Psaki is not the first Democrat to criticize her own party for not connecting to voters and listening to their concerns. Several Democratic lawmakers, including Rep. Tim Ryan (D., Ohio), have been critical of the Democratic Party not having a unifying economic message to help people.
Psaki also said this week that she wished Clinton was not the one re-litigating the 2016 race.
Democratic leaders are also still looking for a national leader for their party in the post-Obama era.