While former President Barack Obama will stump for Democrats in key battleground states of Georgia, Michigan, and Wisconsin this month, he is bringing some criticism with him.
Obama took a shot at Democrats for pushing the "buzzkill" of cancel culture and getting bogged down in "policy gobbledygook" instead of taking a wider view on how Americans look at issues.
The remarks came Friday on the "Pod Save America" podcast, where Obama denounced the taking of the equality message to the point of "scolding" Americans.
"My family, my kids, work that gives me satisfaction, having fun — hell, not being a buzzkill — and sometimes Democrats are," Obama said.
"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 say things the wrong way, make mistakes."
Democrats are turning off American voters, Obama warned.
"What works for, I think, everybody is the idea of a basic equal treatment and fairness," he continued. "That's an argument that's compatible with progress on social issues and compatible with economic interests.
"I think where we get into trouble sometimes is where we try to suggest that some groups are more — because they historically have been victimized more — that somehow they have a status that's different than other people and we're going around scolding folks if they don't use exactly the right phrase.
"Or that identity politics becomes the principle lens through which we view our various political challenges."
Obama admitted even he would get caught up in "policy gobbledygook."
"Look, I used to get into trouble whenever, as you guys know well, whenever I got a little too professorial and, you know, started," Obama said, "when I was behind the podium as opposed to when I was in a crowd, there were times where I'd get, you know, sound like I was giving a bunch of policy gobbledygook.
"And that's not how people think about these issues. They think about them in terms of the life I'm leading day to day. How does politics, how is it even relevant to the things that I care the most deeply about?"
Obama will stump for candidates for federal and state offices, appearing in Atlanta on Oct. 28 before traveling to Detroit and Milwaukee on Oct. 29, his office said Saturday.
"He looks forward to stumping for candidates up and down the ballot, especially in races and states that will have consequences for the administration of 2024 elections," Obama's office said in a statement.
Obama also shared some concern about election integrity — a topic that has been a frequent target of criticism when it is broached by Republicans.
"It may turn out that in a close presidential election at some point, certification of an election in a key swing state may be at issue," Obama said, politicking for Democrats to control those key positions. "And, it's going to be really important that we have people there who play it straight."
Information from Reuters was used in this report.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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