US Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has criticized Democratic leaders for not spending enough time trying to help working-class people and instead focusing on the economic fortunes of large industries.

According to Press TV, during a campaign rally on Thursday in Springfield, Oregon, Sanders laid out in more detail than usual his views for shaping the Democratic Party’s agenda and the need for elected party officials to focus on achieving progressive political goals.

The US senator from Vermont spoke at length about how Democrats had not spent enough time trying to help working-class people obtain adequate health care and higher wages.

“The Democratic Party has to reach a fundamental conclusion: Are we on the side of working people or big-money interests?” Sanders asked the crowd.

“Do we stand with the elderly, the children, the sick and the poor? Or do we stand with Wall Street speculators and the drug companies and the insurance companies? Now our job is not just to revitalize the Democratic Party, not only to open the doors to young people and working people — our job is to revitalize American democracy.”

Sanders criticized Democratic leaders on many of the core issues of his campaign. He questioned whether leaders were thinking about the concerns of voters rather than the economic fortunes of large industries.

ME