Obfuscation is the obscuring of the intended meaning of communication or the primary issues in a controversy by making the message or issues difficult to understand, usually with confusing and ambiguous language, red herrings (distractions) or other forms of misdirection.
The obfuscation might be either unintentional or intentional (although intent usually is connoted), and is accomplished with circumlocution (talking around the subject), the use of jargon (technical language of a profession), and the use of an argot (ingroup language) of limited communicative value to outsiders.
Classic examples of obfuscation are found in the LDS (Mormon) Church's "Gospel Essays" published under pressure to effect damage control over increasing and widespread awareness of the extreme disparity between actual historical facts in LDS Church history and the official Church narrative of its history.
Excellent discussion of the LDS Gospel Essays can be found on Mormonthink.com