Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s recent admission that Democratic messaging can be “too obtuse” for ordinary voters is a rare moment of candor from the left — and it should set off alarm bells inside the party. Whitmer made the comment during an interview on NPR, saying Democrats sometimes make their messaging so general that people can’t see themselves in it.
She tried to dress it up by insisting Democrats are a “big tent” and that inclusivity isn’t a zero-sum game, but her own phrasing exposed the rot: when your leaders brag about nuance while working Americans are losing jobs and watching their communities decline, “nuance” becomes a euphemism for detachment. Whitmer’s admission that voters don’t “feel like, yeah, you matter” is exactly what conservatives have been saying for years — elites talking over people, not to them.
This is not just a talking point; it’s a strategy failure. Whitmer herself has been floated as a potential 2028 presidential contender, yet even she concedes the party’s message is failing to land with the very people Democrats claim to represent. If Democrats keep choosing abstract moral posturing over concrete promises about security, jobs, and freedom, they will keep losing working-class voters who want plain answers and practical results.
Fox’s The Five and other commentators rightly mocked the phrase and urged a clearer vocabulary — “obtuse” is a kinder word than what most Americans feel when presented with elitist pieties. The liberal playbook has become a rapid-fire litany of feel-good slogans that don’t solve local problems: high taxes, crime, failing schools, and soaring costs. Conservatives should seize on Whitmer’s moment of honesty and ask her and her allies why they prefer jargon to solutions.
Make no mistake: this is also a lesson for Republicans. When the other side confesses their weakness, our job is to counter with clarity, not arrogance. Talk about safer streets, stronger schools, energy independence, and economic opportunity in plain English — voters don’t need lectured at, they need results and respect.
Whitmer’s applause line about inclusivity rings hollow to voters who were ordered into lockdowns, saw livelihoods destroyed, and watched their liberties treated as optional during the pandemic — a history that left many Americans skeptical of elite pronouncements. Her meeting at the Oval Office with President Trump and the backlash she received from within her own party show the fractures and performative loyalties that define today’s Democrats, and conservatives should keep pressing those raw spots until the political class starts speaking a language the country actually understands.
