Obama: You lose people with 'snappy' slogans like 'defund the police' https://thehill.com/homenews/campai...le-with-snappy-slogans-like-defund-the-police Former President Obama said political candidates lose support when using “snappy” slogans like “defund the police,” in an interview scheduled to be released Wednesday. Obama told Peter Hamby, who hosts a Snapchat political show “Good Luck America, ”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 former president said in the interview scheduled to go live at 6 a.m. on Wednesday, according to Axios. "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. The former president’s comments align with other top Democrats who have considered the phrase to be damaging to the Democratic Party. House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) told NBC News’s “Meet the Press” last month that he believed the slogan hurt some Democratic candidates, like Rep. Joe Cunningham (D-S.C.) who lost to Rep.-elect Nancy Mace (R-S.C.). The phrase was widely used in connection with the racial justice protests over the summer, following George Floyd’s death in May after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for several minutes, pinning him to the street. The killing of Floyd, who was Black, triggered calls to defund the police across the country. The slogan refers to reallocating funding for police departments to social services for minority communities. Obama participated in the three-part Snapchat interview as part of his press tour for the first volume of his memoir “A Promised Land.” Portions of the interview will become available on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, according to Axios. In the interview, the former president also acknowledged that President Trump made gains among young Black men in the presidential election. “I think men generally are more susceptible to public figures who act tough, try to project a stereotypical macho style,” he said. “I don't think Black men are immune to that any more than white or Hispanic men are.” Obama also promoted the concept that younger voices in politics should be amplified, commenting on Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-N.Y.) speaking time at the Democratic National Convention. "One thing I will say about the Democratic Party is that promoting young people is really important," he said, according to Axios. "And I think that there have been times where we stick so long with the same old folks and don't make room for new voices,” he added.
Some snakey comments there by Obama, but always wrapped in pretty talk. He cautions against using slogans like "defund the police" because it allegedly gets in the way of accomplishing it and similar goals. In other words, he warns the left to package their goals better - versus speaking out against the ones that are stupid. And he says, "there have been times where we stick so long with the same old folks." Yeh, he says that right when Joe Biden is coming in. Snaky. As always, it is all about Barry. He is positioning himself, and did long ago, to be the Great Karnac behind the curtain where the dems continue to come and kiss his ring directly for his blessing on everything that the new administration does.
Too snappy, yes. More accurate would have been "defund the militaristic police". In this forum here, back at the start of Obama 1, several posters on the right were condemning the large ammunition purchases of homeland security, and surplus military hardware purchases by local police. They were thought to be menacing, posing the threat of tyranny.
The squad invented it and ran with it all year, They supported *riots around it * peaceful protests "We lose people in the hands of police," Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., shot back. "It’s not a slogan but a policy demand
Oh, we can agree that the dem politicians were not as interested in running with that slogan. Unfortunately for them though, that is not the same as saying that lefties did not run with it. The lefty mob has run with it bigtime. And yes, the GOP has vocally been pointing the lefties' own words out to the public. And yes, the dem politicians are even less interested in it now than before the election, having seen the loss in the house.
The far left movement pushed this slogan to defund the police and the GOP picked it up as a a political rally cry against that which played a role in losing House seats because that is felt more local than in a national election. Biden did a so-so job of distancing himself from it because he could not afford to alienate any voters. Now he needs to tell the squad to shut the fuck up because there will be no defunding of the police. REFORM is needed but not the way it is being pushed byt he squad. With all due to respect to the squad they have no political experience and are jumping on populist movements for their own importance as much as Trump was. I doubt Ilhan or AOC really have any depth of understanding of their policies and how to actually work to affect change rather than spout out really stupid shit. I do not care how many degrees you have, if you let your mouth speak before your brain then you get the expectation that you are an idiot. When teh Dems could have seized on the movement for real reforms and bringing in the police with them, they let radical BLM and protestors seize the message and spread the defund the police. And that CHAZ or CHAD or FUCK whatever happened in Seattle is what happeneds when you let young idealists with no fucking clue about real life get control and run a movement. They fuck it up.