Former President Barack Obama says the Democratic Party needs to be a “little more grounded” in its attitude.
Speaking on the “Pod Save America” podcast, Obama said, “I think we do get into trouble — Look, I used to get into trouble whenever, as you guys know well, whenever I got a little too professorial and started… when I was behind a podium as opposed to when I was in a crowd.”
“There were times where I’d sound like I was giving a bunch of policy gobbledygook. And that’s now how people think about these issues,” he continued.
He went on:
“They think about them in terms of, you know, the life I’m leading day to day. How does politics even, how is it even relevant to, you know, the things that I care most deeply about. My family, my kids, work that gives me satisfaction, you know, having fun. You know, not being a buzzkill.”
Watch the video below:
"Democrats can be [buzzkills], right? Sometimes people just want to not feel as if they are walking on eggshells… and that all of us at any given moment can say things the wrong way, make mistakes."
— Pod Save America (@PodSaveAmerica) October 14, 2022
Interview with @BarackObama out tonight on @SIRIUSXM and everywhere tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/xi65vTNWZH
When one of the co-hosts chimed in to suggest his comment is a lesson for the Democratic Party, the former president, said, “And sometimes Democrats are [buzzkills], right?”
“It’s like, you know, sometimes, people just want to not feel as if they are walking on eggshells, and they want some acknowledgment that life is messy and that all of us at any given moment can, you know, say things the wrong way, you know, make mistakes,” Obama added.
He shared the example of his 86-year-old mother-in-law, who may not use the proper “phraseology when we’re talking about issues.”
“[Michelle Obama’s] like, that’s like her trying to learn Spanish. It doesn’t mean she shouldn’t try to learn Spanish. But it means that sometimes she’s not going to get the words right. And that’s OK. Right? And that attitude of just being a little more real and a little more grounded is something I think that goes a long way in counteracting the systematic propaganda that I think is being pumped out by Fox News [and] all these other outlets all the time,” he added.
Setting aside his gratuitous shot at Fox News, which seems he is contractually obligated to take, Democrats should heed his comments.
In recent years, we’ve been treated to story, after story, after story, about the number of Americans who say they are “self-censoring” due to the fear other people will find what they say offensive.
A 2020 survey conducted by the CATO Institute, a libertarian think tank, found that only “staunch liberals” said they feel they say what they believe. Meanwhile, 52% of liberals, 64% of moderates, and 77% of conservatives said they feel they have to limit what they say.
The survey also found that 50% of “strong liberals” were more inclined to say someone should be fired if they donated to then-President Donald Trump, while 36% of “strong conservatives” said someone should be fired if they donated to Joe Biden’s presidential campaign.
Those are ridiculous numbers. And they show that liberals appear to be more in favor of punishing people for donating to the “wrong campaign,” or being on the “wrong side” of an issue — though there is apparently an element of that amongst conservatives.
But both sides need to recognize, as Obama pointed out, that the average American does not want to feel like if they accidentally slip up and say the “wrong thing” or donate $25 to “the wrong guy” because they liked something he or she said, their life could be ruined.
That is no way to live, and it is no way to treat people. And having a party full of whiny crybabies who kick and scream and throw temper tantrums and then try to get someone fired because they did not use the “right language” one time is not a way to win people over to your side.