Barack Obama Says 1 Political Party’s Biggest Flaw Is Its Love For ‘Gobbledygook’

On Tuesday night’s episode of “The Late Show,” host Stephen Colbert asked the former president about a certain clash going down within the Democratic party that the late-night host described as “liberals vs. the left.”

Former President Barack Obama on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”

Screenshot “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” via Snapstream

“As my children say to me, ‘Dad, you’re a liberal. We’re leftists,’” Colbert began to explain. “Because, they’re like, ‘Liberals are people who think things should basically stay the same, you know what I mean? And the next generation really wants things to change.’”

Colbert then asked Obama how he thinks the Democratic party could “actually achieve change.”

Obama responded by noting that the two were currently sitting in his nearly completed Barack Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, which the former president stressed was “nonpartisan.”

“The reason why I want to mention that is because I’m worried about the Republican party, not just the Democratic party,” Obama said.

“When I was president, people would ask me, ‘What changes would you like to see in Washington?’ I’d say, ‘I’d love a loyal opposition.’ I’d love a Republican party that was conservative in some ways — that didn’t agree with me on a whole bunch of stuff — but believed in the rule of law, and judicial independence, and … empirical evidence, science, and wasn’t constantly tapping into our worst impulses.”

The late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) receives the 2017 Liberty Medal from former Vice President Joe Biden in 2017.

William Thomas Cain via Getty Images

Obama said there “has been a Republican party like that in the past” and thinks it would be wise for the GOP to embrace its less extreme roots because America needs “to have two healthy parties.”

As for Democrats, Obama wasn’t exactly buying the idea there is some “so-called rift between the left and liberals.”

He noted that most Democrats, “independents and even some Republicans” share overlapping beliefs, like “equality, fairness;” that all Americans “should be able to make a living wage” and “be able to support a family and retire;” and that companies should not be allowed “to just run roughshod over the rights of workers.”

Democrat’s real problem, as Obama sees it, is their terrible communication style.

“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? Can you talk plain English to folks?”

Obama said the left should take notes from New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who Obama called “an extraordinary talent,” thanks to his ability to pinpoint a specific issue and explain it in everyday language.

Colbert agreed.

“Not only does he talk like a normal person, but he lives a normal life,” Colbert said. “He names what is obviously wrong, and he goes, ‘We should change that thing.’”

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks during a campaign rally in 2025.

ANGELA WEISS via Getty Images

“Yes!” Obama enthusiastically said, adding: “And not have a bunch of gobbledygook around it.”

Colbert was clearly tickled by Obama using the word “gobbledygook,” and suggested Obama etch the word somewhere in his new presidential library.

“The building is not completed, I think I’m going to put that somewhere,” an amused Obama joked. “I’m going to carve it into some of the granite out here: ‘No gobbledygook, just talk like normal people talk!’ You know? Like, the rent’s too high, we need to make the rent lower for people.”

Elsewhere in his lengthy interview with Colbert, Obama also managed to slyly call out President Donald Trump without even using his name. Check out that bit of the conversation here.

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