Former President Barack Obama in an interview to air on Snapchat Wednesday said “snappy” slogans such as “defund the police” have become less effective of enacting meaningful police reform and have caused political candidates to “lost a big audience.”
“If you believe, as I do, that we should be able to reform the criminal justice system so that it’s not biased and treats everybody fairly, I guess you can use a snappy slogan, like ‘Defund the Police,’ but, you know, 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,” Obama told Peter Hamby on his Snapchat political show “Good Luck America.”
“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.
Top Democrats have considered the derogatory phrase to be damaging, citing it as the top reason the Democratic Party have a slim House majority and lost heavily funded Senate races that were considered to be part of an apparent blue wave.
The former president also touched on the reason he believes his successor, President Trump gained huge support among young Black men this election cycle, citing men in general are drawn to those of macho style appeal.
“Well, look, I think men generally are more susceptible to public figures who act tough, you know, try to project sort of a stereotypical macho style. I don’t think Black men are immune to that any more than white or Hispanic men are. And as I mentioned, the other day when I was in a conversation with some folks, a lot of the values of popular culture are constantly extolling wealth, power, frankly greed, and not really thinking about other people because you’re so ruthless that you’re just looking out for yourself,” Obama said.
“African American popular culture is not immune to that. So if there are some in the hip-hop community who are, you know, constantly rapping about bling and depicting women in a certain way, and then they hear Donald Trump basically delivering the same version of it or another version of it, they might say, Hey, you know, what? That guy, you know, that’s what I want. That’s what I want to be. All of which is to say that the Black community, like every community, is complicated,” he added.
The three-part Snapchat interview will air Wednesday through Friday, with the first going live Wednesday morning at 6 a.m. EST on Snapchat.
2020Defund The PoliceGood Luck AmericaPeter HambyPresident ObamaSnapChatTrump 2020 Campaign
RickinNH
December 2, 2020The man who ran a ridiculously corrupt and scandal ridden White House is telling us how to avoid snappy slogans? Hmmm, perhaps he missed the fact that the president had the largest percentage of minority votes ever by a Republican candidate in the farce that he calls an election. Get ready America. The millions of people who know that Biden and Harris are in office due to fraud aren’t going to take this lying down.
P W
December 2, 2020Is Obama saying snappy slogans don’t work, like “lead from behind” or “hope and change”??? The empty suit who did nothing for criminal justice reform is now going to tell us how to do it. Isn’t he still searching for those shovel-ready jobs? Maybe he still likes his doctor so he will keep his doctor? Those snappy one liners might not have been quite so snappy, right Barack? I still remember when Obama said “there wasn’t even a smidgen of scandal” during his administration, I guess he forgot the FISA warrants to spy on the Trump campaign or his VP getting prosecutors fired in Ukraine, or his Secretary of State deleting 33,000 subpoenaed emails, or the IRS turning down tax exempt status for his political opponents, or … all the other things the media had zero curiosity to look at!
Frances Weingarten
December 2, 2020I think that “Defund the Police” is a ridiculous slogan and should be banned! The Police are what keeps the country stable and functional and they are extremely important for the country!
As for the slogan, only the stupidist of people would consider this a rational choice!
Sincerely,
Frances Weingarten
Herm
December 1, 2020‘”And as I mentioned, the other day when I was in a conversation with some folks, a lot of the values of popular culture are constantly extolling wealth, power, frankly greed, and not really thinking about other people because you’re so ruthless that you’re just looking out for yourself,” Obama said.
That sounds a lot like you!
Ralph
December 1, 2020Obama is gay he would have no idea what a man thinks
A.Olsson
December 1, 2020Instead of retiring with dignity and grace, he chooses to make a complete fool of himself with proposals like this. I’m constantly amazed he was actually re-elected for a second term. To be appointed to the Supreme Court would make him a further object of ridicule. He makes my flesh crawl.