Legendary Democratic strategist James Carville says his party is too afraid to admit it, but addressing the perils of “wokeness” culture is a major issue when it comes to messaging.
In an interview with Vox, Carville was asked to comment on President Biden’s first 100 days in office but instead pivoted to a problem he sees in the Democrat Party.
“‘Wokeness’ is a problem and everyone knows it,” he said. “It’s hard to talk to anybody today — and I talk to lots of people in the Democratic Party — who doesn’t say this.”
“But they don’t want to say it out loud,” the Democrat legend then admits. “They’ll get clobbered or canceled.”
‘Wokeness Is A Problem’: James Carville Says Democrats Won’t Admit That Because They’ll Be ‘Clobbered Or Canceled’ https://t.co/xPiEdSBPBa
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) April 27, 2021
James Carville Slams ‘Wokeness’
Carville also addressed what he calls “faculty lounge” politics and how it results in a messaging problem for Democrats.
“You ever get the sense that people in faculty lounges in fancy colleges use a different language than ordinary people?” he asked.
“They come up with a word like ‘Latinx’ that no one else uses. Or they use a phrase like ‘communities of color,’” Carville laments.
“I don’t know anyone who speaks like that. I don’t know anyone who lives in a ‘community of color,’” he continued. “I know lots of white and Black and brown people and they all live in … neighborhoods.”
Carville explains that he doesn’t have a problem with the phrases and their meaning but rather, that the typical voter doesn’t speak this way.
It’s a refreshing take from a top Democrat strategist admitting the absurdity of catchphrases used by nearly every politician on the left side of the aisle.
James Carville, on the term ‘woke’: “We should talk about racial injustice. What I’m saying is, we need to do it without using jargon-y language that’s unrecognizable.. This ‘too cool for school’ shit doesn’t work and we have to stop it”
(via @seanilling)https://t.co/7lUq7zz1vz
— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla) April 27, 2021
An Arrogant Party
James Carville notes that President Biden seems to be the exception in his party when it comes to using “wokeness” or engaging in “faculty lounge” politics.
When Democrats speak in those terms, he says, they come off being viewed by the country “as an urban, coastal, arrogant party.”
At the other end of the spectrum though you have a man in Biden who might be better served to use Democrat catchphrases and lessen the risk of making comments like “you ain’t black” or “poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids.”
Pick your poison.
Don’t be fooled by James Carville’s “wokeness” revelation though. He still delivers on the crazy.
In the same interview, he refers to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene as “loonier than a tune” while downplaying Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s own lunacy by claiming the only negative thing one can say about AOC is that her political aspirations are “impractical.”
He also has a penchant for engaging in his own wild rhetoric, as evidenced last month when he accused Republicans of thinking “God must surely want wealthy white people to be first in line to get the (COVID) vaccine.”
That said, even a broken clock is right twice a day, and in this instance, Carville’s take on ‘wokeness’ preventing voters from taking Democrats seriously is spot on.
“We have to speak the way regular people speak, the way voters speak,” he added. “It ain’t complicated. That’s how you connect and persuade.”
This article was originally published by the Political Insider. Read the original article.
ThinkCivics researches, examines, and reports on issues that matter most. We deliver explanative, fearless, and insightful analysis for public consumption.
