By Amanda Becker
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A top U.S. Senate Democrat said on Tuesday that President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats made a major political blunder in 2009 when they chose to focus on healthcare reform instead of concentrating on fixing the economy.
Charles Schumer, the No. 3 Senate Democrat, said it "made no political sense" for the party to push healthcare reform as its highest domestic priority when lack of health insurance coverage affected only a small portion of voters.
Schumer, a New York Democrat, said the decision sent a message to middle class Americans that "the Democrats are not paying enough attention" to their concerns. When Obama took office in early 2009, the financial system was in crisis and the economy was mired in recession.
"The plight of uninsured Americans and the hardships caused by unfair insurance company practices certainly needed to be addressed. But it wasn't the change we were hired to make," Schumer said, noting that 85 percent of Americans receive healthcare coverage from their employer or the government.
Obama's signature legislation, the Affordable Care Act, is aimed at reducing the number of uninsured people.
"We would have been better able to address it if Democrats had first proposed and passed bold programs aimed at a broader swath of the middle class," Schumer said in remarks at the National Press Club.
In reaction to Schumer's comments, former White House aide Tommy Vietor derided the New York senator, saying his remarks were the equivalent of saying, "I wish Obama cared more about helping Democrats than sick people."
Schumer's comments were the latest example of divisions within the Democratic party that have emerged since the Nov. 4 midterm elections in which Republicans wrested control of the Senate from Democrats and increased their numbers in the House of Representatives.
Dissatisfaction with Obama, whose approval ratings are stuck near 42 percent, helped to fuel the Republican gains.
In an interview with the Washington Post the day after the midterms, David Krone, a top aide to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, discussed frustrations he had with the Obama White House over its approach to fundraising for the midterms.
Some congressional Democrats have also differed with Obama over his decision to ease the threat of deportation for millions of undocumented immigrants. Tuesday's speech was the first of three addresses Schumer plans to give about the future of the Democratic Party, with a theme of embracing a pro-government platform.
(Additional reporting by Emily Stephenson and Krista Hughes; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)