Barack Obama attacks Democrat ‘cancel culture’

The former US president has unleashed on ‘Buzzkill Democrats’ in his own party, saying ‘all of us at any given moment can say things the wrong way, make mistakes’.

Barack Obama says ‘all of us at any given moment can say things the wrong way, make mistakes’. Picture: AFP

Barack Obama has attacked “cancel culture” in his own Democratic party, arguing that “all of us, at any given moment, can say things the wrong way, make mistakes”.

Obama, 61, described some in his party as “buzzkill Democrats”, saying that those in or seeking office needed to “be able to speak to everybody about their common interests”.

He told the Pod Save America podcast: “Sometimes people just want to not feel as if they are walking on eggshells, and they want some acknowledgment that life is messy.

“I think where we get into trouble sometimes is where we try to suggest that some groups are more . . . because they historically have been victimised 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,” he said. “Or that identity politics becomes the principal lens through which we view our various political challenges.”

I sat down with @PodSaveAmerica to talk about the importance of voting in these midterms, the state of democracy here and abroad, and the progress Democrats have made on the issues that matter.

Take a listen: https://t.co/lsVesjEngc

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) October 15, 2022

He did not give an example, or name anyone, but the left of his party has been accused of promoting identity politics. Republicans have described the party as “woke” and criticised the Black Lives Matter campaign, which has strong support from many Democrats.

Obama also said the party needed to be clearer in its messaging to voters and that colleagues often got bogged down by “policy gobbledygook”.

“Look, I used to get into trouble whenever I got a little too professorial and, you know, started . . . when I was behind the podium as opposed to when I was in a crowd.”

The former president spoke less than a month before the midterm elections, in which the Democrats may lose control of both houses of Congress. The party now holds the Senate by the barest of majorities, and the House of Representatives by not much more.

If the Republicans win control of Congress after November 8, President Biden, 79, will face an uphill struggle to pass any legislation that is remotely contentious.

Obama said on Saturday that he had agreed to campaign for Democratic candidates in tight races. His office said he would speak in “targeted” battleground states for “candidates up and down the ballot, especially in races and states that will have consequences for the administration of 2024 elections”.

Obama tweeted: “We have to show up this election for the governors, secretaries of state and the candidates down the ballot who are going to protect voting rights and our electoral process.”

Recent analysis by The Washington Post suggested that most Republicans standing in the midterms have said the 2020 presidential election was rigged against Donald Trump, the Republican candidate. No evidence has been produced to support their claims.

This month Obama will campaign for candidates in Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin.

Next week Obama will campaign in Atlanta, Georgia, where the Democrat senator, Raphael Warnock, is in a close race against the Trump-backed Republican Herschel Walker. Allegations about Walker’s private life, including that he paid a former partner to have an abortion despite standing on an avowedly pro-life platform, have done little to dent his polling and the latest figures suggest he has a narrow lead.

Obama will also speak for Stacy Abrams, the Democratic candidate for governor in Georgia, and for candidates in Michigan and Wisconsin.

FiveThirtyEight, which analyses polling data, has said the Republicans are likely to take control of the House but that the Democrats are on track to keep hold of the Senate.

The Times