Who Are These Democrats, Anyway?

Ladies and gentlemen: the plain-spoken Barack Obama, who never, ever was accused of being a professor in a college seminar

Obama: "What I'm more interested in for Democrats is, do you know how to just talk to regular people like we're not in a college seminar? Can you talk in plain English to folks? And not have a bunch of gobbledygook around it. Just talk like normal people talk. 'The rent is too… pic.twitter.com/HUPCGD64Dq

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 6, 2026

In late February, the leading (by conventional wisdom) Democratic contender for the 2028 presidential nomination appeared before a largely black audience in Atlanta. He claimed a struggle with dyslexia and stated "I cannot read a speech."  He maintained "I'm not better than you. I'm a 960 SAT guy"and was accused of racial bias by a Fox News talk show host. He responded

You didn't give a shit about the President of the United States posting an ape video of President Obama or calling African nations shitholes- but you're going to call me racist for talking about my lifelong struggle with dyslexia? Spare me your fucking outrage, Sean.

That's an impressive profanity-to-word ratio. and it doesn't sound much like gobbledygook in a college seminar. Responding to the Atlanta kerfuffle, conservative lawyer and Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley noted that Minority Leader Chuck Schumer had flasked the "f-bomb" in public and

Katie Porter this week thrilled a crowd by waving around a sign reading “F–k Trump.” Porter was previously criticized for using such language to abuse staffers to “get out of my f–cking shot” in an interview.

At the State of the Union, Rep. Rashida Tlaib wore a button on the House floor reading “F–k Ice.”

Such behavior is not just limited to Democrats. President Trump has used profanity on occasion.

However, the Democrats appear to have made profanity a signature element in their campaigns.

Rep. Jasmine Crockett, who is running for the U.S. Senate in Texas, seems a perpetual profanity machine, regularly telling figures like Elon Musk to “f–k off” and dropping the f-bomb at a higher rate than prepositions.

Some are virtually giggly over swearing in public. Rep. Maxine Dexter (D-Ore.) declared, “I don’t swear in public very well, but we have to f–k Trump. Please don’t tell my children that I just did that.” The crowd roared with approval that Dexter was feigning being naughty with dirty words.

There is a belief that profanity is a way to connect to younger voters who trash-talk and seem to like what was once called “potty mouths.”

In the modern era, this practice was inaugurated by Donald J. Trump, who went on to be elected twice to the presidenccy with the support of most young men, who tend to be favorably triggered by this affectation. (Oh no, I sound like I'm at a college seminar!)  It's a cheap, easy way to attempt appeal to non-college educated voters.  (Trump: "I love the poorly educated."). It's less risky than claiming low SAT scores or having to consider altering a view on an actual issue.

Democratic politicians are trying to avoid sounding like university professors, though in this simplistic, profane manner. And conservatives continue to knock Democrats in much the same way as did the former President, to whom Steve M responds

IB know, I know -- this isn't just a right-wing critique of Democrats. Many Democrats agree that their party's leaders sound too cerebral and professorial. But "Democrats are out-of-touch elitists" is a core right-wing argument, and Obama is echoing it here.

I don't really believe that professorial talk is what's holding back Democrats. Many liberal and left slogans -- "No Kings," "Tax the Rich" -- are very plain English. And Republicans don't always talk like regular folks.

Obama, the magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School, never was accused of being overly down-to-earth. However, by far the greater hypocrisy is on the part of the GOP.  Steve M adds

Older Republicans praise pseudo-intellectual right-wing pundits such as Thomas Sowell and Hugh Hewitt, not to mention Newt Gingrich and Dinesh D'Souza, who delighted Republican voters for years with their academic-sounding denunciations of Obama's alleged "Kenyan, anti-colonial behavior." GOP voters appreciate efforts to turn institutions of higher learning such as Florida's New College into conservative beachheads.

They hate mainstream scientists, but love scientists who embrace vaccine and climate denialism. They distrust lawyers in general, but they revere the memory of Antonin Scalia, and they cheer on the Federalist Society lawyers who control much of the federal bench. They appreciate the work of right-wing think tankers like Chris Rufo. And they sometimes use fancy language: remember, we talk about trans rights, while their term for the trans rights movement is the very academic-sounding "gender ideology."

I don't think right-wingers care how highfalutin your language is, as long as they agree with you. If you tell them things they want to hear, you can use any language you want. If you tell them things they don't want to hear, they'll reject you even if you use nothing but one-syllable words.

It may be hard for Obama and others to understand but in most cases, it does not come down to language. It's ideology or values or whatever, "as long as they agree with you."  The current effort of many Democrats to dumb down their language in order to relate to the voting bloc now hanging with Republicans is not only a little obnoxious and embarrassing, but unlikely to bear fruit.

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