WASHINGTON — Gov. Deval Patrick delivered some tough love to his own party yesterday on “Meet the Press.” And if Democrats know what’s good for them in 2016, they’ll listen.

Patrick called last month’s midterm elections “a bad day for Democrats who don’t stand for anything.”

“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.” He’s right.

The midterms were not, as some Republicans suggest, a wholesale rebuke of the Democratic Party. Congressional Republicans have a lower favorability rating than either their Democratic counterparts or the president. What the voters rejected was a government where gridlock and partisan battles drown out the policy needs of the electorate. Incumbent Democrats bore the brunt of voters’ ire in part because there were more of them ?on ballots.

But the Democrats also failed to articulate what was at stake. Republicans were running against Democrats, and Democrats were running away from Barack Obama and his policies. The candidates spent more time talking about what they were against than what they were for.

It’s strange because that is where Democrats have traditionally excelled, especially when they focused on the middle class. In this frustratingly slow economic recovery, there is plenty for Democrats to talk about, and with 2016 around the corner they’d better craft a new message fast.

The median household income is just under $52,000, according to 2013 U.S. Census data. The ability to speak to the concerns of folks trying to raise families with so little will be crucial for any effective presidential and congressional candidate in 2016.

Can Hillary Clinton be the candidate to deliver a populist message to voters who care deeply not only about boosting jobs and the economy and reining in Wall Street, but also addressing climate change and reforming the broken immigration system?

The jury is still out. But if she’s going to top the party’s ticket in two years, she’d better learn quickly.

Some in the party get it. At a recent Center for American Progress summit, bigwig liberal donor Nick Hanauer summed up midterm voters’ view of Democratic candidates in three words: “feckless corporate stooges,” according a report in The Atlantic.

Clinton’s own cozy relationship with corporate America won’t do much to change minds, which is why the party’s progressives are still dreaming of an Elizabeth Warren presidential campaign, and why Harry Reid gave Warren a seat at the Senate leadership table.

Patrick again swatted away questions about a presidential run, saying “I’ve thought about it, but no, I can’t get ready for 2016.”

But if Clinton can’t deliver a message that resonates with working-class Americans, and if Warren won’t, maybe Patrick should.