Former President Obama who famously called the Cambridge Police “stupid” early into his first term says that political candidates lose support when using “snappy” slogans like “defund the police.”
The comments came in an interview set to air on Wednesday with the political show, “Good Luck America.”
The Hill reports that Obama told Peter Hamby, who hosts the show, that those who use the slogan could jeopardize their goals of enacting meaningful reforms for police.
“You lost a big audience the minute you say it, which makes it a lot less likely that you’re actually going to get the changes you want done.”
“The key is deciding, do you want to actually get something done, or do you want to feel good among the people you already agree with?” Obama added.
#DefundPolice?#Seattle homicides highest in over a decade as council cuts police budget
The most recent murder occurred this morning:https://t.co/YY8mogV13j
— Adam Milstein (@AdamMilstein) December 1, 2020
The former president’s comments align with other top Democrats who have considered the phrase to be damaging to the Democratic Party.
The sentiment falls in line with other Democrats that blamed the call to defund law enforcement on losing seats in Congress during the last election.
While former President Obama warned about the slogan, let’s be clear why.
Marine veteran elected mayor in Stockton, Calif., says voters rejected Dem incumbent's 'defund police' pushhttps://t.co/9s19iL5pag
— Fox News (@FoxNews) November 25, 2020
Because politically speaking it hurts candidates. What Obama did not mention is the damage that actual defunding is doing in urban cities across America.
From Chicago to Seattle to Los Angeles, violence has erupted in the wake of budget cuts for law enforcement and that predominantly has hurt African Americans, who tend to suffer at an exponential rate to violence.
