Woke Culture

Regular readers of this blog understand that I was no fan of the Obama presidency or the man himself. I sometimes referred to him unkindly, but always because of things he actually did or failed to accomplish. I often questioned his policies because I disagreed with them. I occasionally noted that his followers resorted to magical thinking to justify his actions or words. I discussed the many real and serious scandals that plagued his administration. I praised his speaking style but never allowed his words to obscure his actions. And I never advocated that he be impeached or otherwise prematurely ejected from the office he was elected to serve. I never referred to his followers as "deplorables."

Having said all of that, I must admit that Barack Obama has mellowed, at least a bit. In a recent TV interview [video at the link] described by Ed Morrisey, he laments the current state of the "woke" culture that has embedded itself into progressive thought:

“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,” he said. “The world is messy. There are ambiguities. People who do really good stuff have flaws.”

Obama also called out what he perceived as a “danger” among younger people.

“There is this sense sometimes of ‘the way of me making change is to be as judgmental as possible about other people, and that’s enough,’” he said, then offered an example:

Like if I tweet or hashtag about how you didn’t do something right or used the wrong verb. Then, I can sit back and feel pretty good about myself because, ‘Man, you see how woke I was? I called you out.’ I’m gonna get on TV. Watch my show. Watch ‘Grown-ish.’ You know, 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.

Obama seems to understand that woke culture will NOT resonate with the broader electorate, and because it is tighhtly bound to the Democratic party and its candidates, it represents a net negative for them.

He's right.