Former President Barack Obama said Democrats were sometimes too "self-righteous" toward their political opponents during a recent podcast interview.
In a live conversation about the state of democracy in America, Obama said that the "story" of America was a sometimes "messy" path toward greater "tolerance" and acceptance of others.
But the danger for liberals, Obama warned, was to insist on a self-righteous attitude.
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"A losing strategy for us, is when we are so insistent on our purity, when we are so self-righteous about positions, that we can't see those folks," Obama said of political adversaries. "When we're talking down to them or our general attitude is that ‘we’re gonna convince you' on how wrong you are.'"
"I have not seen that work yet," he added.
Obama also said that Democrats were not, for the majority of modern history, "on the right side" of tolerance.
"It's not as if the entire history of this country Democrats were on the right side of this thing," he said. "Democrats, for most of modern history, up until the Civil Rights legislation were anti-democratic and terrorized people and killed them for trying to exercise their democracy."
"So we don't have clean hands," Obama continued.
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The former president claimed that his desire was to connect with the kind of person in politics "who otherwise wouldn't listen, and is fearful and is angry and suspicious." When someone like that feels seen, Obama said, like he "understood their lives." is when he knows he has succeeded.
"In that moment, maybe I can persuade them that this precious thing we have — which is our ability to sort things out and exercise forebearance towards each other, understanding, just getting along and listening — if I can get to that moment, then I think we'll be okay."
Some of Obama's closest allies, including former Obama campaign advisor David Axelrod, have featured heavily in the news as the 2024 presidential election closes approaches.
Axelrod asked if it was in the country's "best interest" for President Joe Biden to continue his 2024 presidential bid.
"Only @JoeBiden can make this decision. If he continues to run, he will be the nominee of the Democratic Party. What he needs to decide is whether that is wise; whether it's in HIS best interest or the country's?" Axelrod wrote in a thread on X.
The Obama Foundation did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
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Fox News' Kristine Parks contributed to this report.
