Former President Barack Obama ripped fellow Democrats over their messaging, warning that some in his party are falling short of bridging the gap between ideology and voters.
“You can’t constantly lecture people without acknowledging that you’ve got some blind spots, too, and that life’s messy,” Obama said during an interview on comedian Marc Maron’s final episode of the WTF podcast, which aired Monday.
Obama urged Democrats to avoid “holier than thou” language, arguing that his colleagues can stand by their beliefs while maintaining a healthy level of respect for those with whom they disagree.
“I think this was a fault of some progressive language, was almost asserting a holier-than-thou superiority that’s not that different from what we used to joke about coming from the Right Moral Majority and a certain fundamentalism about how to think about stuff that I think was dangerous,” Obama warned. “You can’t just be a scold all the time.”
He warned people against using “righteous” language that paints people they disagree with as bad.
“If I talked about trans issues, I wasn’t talking down to people and saying, ‘Oh, you’re a bigot,'” Obama added. “I’d say, ‘You know, it’s tough enough being a teenager. Let’s treat all kids decently. Why would we want to see kids bullied?”
Obama’s comments come as Democrats have grappled with how to move forward since critical losses in the 2024 election. At the time, then-candidate Donald Trump secured a victory after the Democratic Party failed to coalesce over how to approach myriad matters, including transgender policy, the economy, immigration, and the war in Gaza.
Divides between Democratic Party factions over strategies, including messaging tactics, pose a threat to party unity ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
Obama encouraged Democrats not to become bogged down in gridlock, but to debate and exchange ideas openly in front of voters, particularly through increasingly powerful platforms in the new media scene of podcasts, social media influencers, and other independent avenues.
“It was interesting to me when people started criticizing Sanders or somebody else for going on Rogan. It’s like, why wouldn’t you? Yeah, of course, go,” Obama said, referring to Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-VT) appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience.
He also referenced Democratic Texas state Rep. James Talarico’s interview with Rogan, calling the lawmaker “terrific, a really talented young man.”
TRUMP CELEBRATES ‘GOLDEN AGE’ OF ISRAEL AND MIDDLE EAST
Talarico’s appearance on Rogan’s show proved that going on long-form podcasts requires “a certain confidence in your actual convictions to debate and have a conversation with somebody who disagrees with you,” Obama said.
While Obama praised Talarico’s ability to interact and possibly win over those holding different views, he slammed Democrats who have embraced a zealot’s intolerance toward those in different political camps.
