Progressives Slam Obama For Criticizing ‘Defund The Police’ Movement As ‘Snappy’ Slogan

Progressive Democrats, including prominent members of “The Squad,” fired back at former President Obama’s criticism of the “Defund the police” as a “snappy” slogan that alienated a large group of centrist voters.

Obama in an interview with Snapchat “Good Luck America” that aired Wednesday morning explained to host Peter Hamby how “snappy” slogans such as “defund the police” have jeopardized movements like Black Lives Matter goals of enacting meaningful police reform while causing political candidates to have “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 said.

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D- MN) clapped back at the former president remarks, falsely claiming we “lose people” not from the slogan, but from the “hands of police.”

Another Squad member, Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) joined in attacking Obama for his remarks, arguing that she is “out of patience” with moderate Democrats slamming “the language of activists.”

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) appeared to call the former president a hypocrite by attacking a movement for Black lives.

Incoming Squad member, Congresswoman-elect Cori Bush bluntly argued that “Defund the Police” isn’t a slogan, but a “mandate” in order to keep “our people alive.”

Congressman-elect Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) who defeated 16-term incumbent Rep. Eliot Engel for New York’s 16th Congressional District, also weighed in, claiming America is “comfort with Black deaths.”

Squad leader, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) in series of tweets said that the “polite language” policy game doesn’t work, arguing the word “defund” is meant to make folks “uncomfortable” and helped fuel activists “discomfort with the status quo & advocate for concrete policy changes.”

While Progressive Democrats and their followers spoke out via Twitter on the former president’s “snappy” remarks, the backlash didn’t stop there. Obama faced a lot of criticism from TV commentators who adore him.

“The View” on Wednesday discussed Obama’s remarks with co-host Sunny Hostin expressing disbelief that a “community organizer” is telling “protesters what language they should use.”

“When you think about ‘defund the police,’ that’s not a term that was crowdsourced or tested in focus groups. You know, that’s a term that was born, a rallying cry, out of this over-policing of Black and Brown communities,” Sunny said.  “I don’t think you should allow people to co-opt the movement and tell protesters what language they should use … President Obama was a community organizer, and I really think that he, you know, knows better.”

Obama’s comments align with other top Democrats who considered the derogatory phrase that damaged the Democratic Party. House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) criticized calls to “defund the police” as “sloganeering” during several Sunday media appearances a week after Election Day, saying the phrase hurt Democratic congressional candidates with “these headlines can kill a political effort.”

Despite President-elect Joe Biden being considered the winner of the 2020 presidential race, his party failed to give him a Democratic legislative majority that would help make his proposed liberal plans a reality. Democrats drastically failed to capture the Senate, winning only one seat in Arizona out of 10 that was polled in their favor to give them the majority. They also lost over a dozen Democratic-held House seats.

Moderate Democrats a day after Election Day slammed Democratic progressive members, saying their calls to “defund the police,” along with their radical left agenda and embracing socialism “f***ing torn apart” the Democrat party.

Calls to “defund the police” gained prominence this summer during nationwide protests after the killing of George Floyd. The phrase according to progressive Democrats means full defunding and abolition of police forces to reallocate its resources for social services. While nearly a majority of Americans agree that some changes are needed to make policing better, most Americans opposed the “defund the police” movement or “defunding police departments” 58 percent to 31 percent, on average of four polls conducted during the height of the protest.

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Progressives Slam Obama For Criticizing ‘Defund The Police’ Movement As ‘Snappy’ Slogan

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