Barack Obama Says Democrats Must Drop “Gobbledygook”

Former President Barack Obama was blunt in his assessment of American politics when he appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on May 5. He urged Democrats to speak plainly, to simplify their communication, and he also voiced his concern about the current direction of the Republican Party.

Obama said that he wasn't as worried about the ideological division within the Democratic Party as to how its leaders are able to explain their ideas to everyday Americans.

Obama told Colbert that the challenge within politics wasn't so much about the ideologies as much as it was about communication.

The former president pointed to a generational divide within the Democratic Party, saying that younger voters often wanted faster and more effective change. He referred to conversations with his own children, saying that they viewed themselves as "leftists" but saw him as a more traditional liberal.

Even though there were these differences, Obama said that there was a general agreement within the party about core issues like fairness, wages, and economic opportunity for all. He felt that the real problem was how those ideas were presented.

“What I'm more interested in Democrats is, do you know how to talk to regular people like we are not at a college seminar?” Obama said. He added that politicians should not complicate their message, and wanted them to use plain language.

“I think I'm going to put that somewhere… No gobbledygook. Talk like normal people talk,” he said. Obama then offered a simple example, “Like the rent is too high. We need to make the rent lower for people.”

While Obama and Colbert mainly talked about Democrats, the former president also talked about his concerns about Republican Party at one point in the conversation.

He said that he misses having a "loyal opposition" that even when they disagreed on some issues, they still respected institutions and shared facts.

“I love a Republican Party that was conservative in some ways… but believed in the rule of law and judicial independence,” Obama said. He added that he would like to see a return to a party grounded in “evidence, science” rather than one that caters to “our worst impulses.”

When Colbert asked him what powers the president shouldn't have, Obama's response was sharp. He felt that the law should be impartial and that "the White House shouldn't be able to direct the attorney general to go around prosecuting whoever the president wants."

Colbert also steered the conversation into lighter topics like when he asked him about past comments about extraterrestrial life. Obama jokingly teased that the government is not capable of keeping such secrets hidden.

“One of the things you learn as president is… government is terrible at keeping secrets,” he said, joking that if aliens were real and known to officials, “some guy guarding the installation would have taken a selfie… and sent it to his girlfriend.”

The father of two, whose Obama Presidential Center is soon opening, nevertheless offered himself up as a diplomat should there ever be a first contact moment, noting that he had experience in diplomacy.