During this week’s Obama Foundation Summit in Chicago, former President Barack Obama had some pointed advice for some of the young progressives in the room.
Obama, in an interview with actress and advocate Yara Shahidi at the summit, shared his concerns about the Democratic Party’s fixation with ideological “purity” Tuesday.
"This idea of purity, and you're never compromised, and you're always politically woke, and all that stuff, you should get over that quickly," Obama said. "The world is messy. There are ambiguities. People who do really good stuff have flaws."
He further narrowed the focus of his message to college students, whom he said were likely fueled by social media to be as “judgmental as possible about other people.”
"Then I can sit and feel pretty good about myself because, man, you see how woke I was, I called you out," Obama said. "That's not activism. That's not bringing about change. If all you're doing is casting stones, you're probably not going to get that far. That's easy to do."
His trenchant comments were widely supported by folks across party lines. One of those across-the-aisle supporters included Tomi Lahren, who in an appearance on "Fox & Friends," said Obama was "looking like the voice of reason" to Republicans.
Several thought leaders and supporters expressed their support for Obama’s comments on Twitter.
Obama’s statements were not intended to dismiss thinking “big as a party,” Jen Psaki, one of Obama’s longtime Democratic consultants, told NPR after the summit. She told NPR his message was intended to remind progressives that governing requires a deeper dive.
"I don't think he was suggesting that we shouldn't think big as a party and as leaders," Psaki told NPR. "What I heard from it was more about not being so sanctimonious that you are not inviting other people to have that conversation with you. Ultimately, a sliver of the population is not going to make change happen.”
Though many applauded his sentiment, not all the feedback was positive for the former president.
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