Barack Obama Pushes Back At Criticism Of His Problem With ‘Defund The Police’ Slogan

Former President Barack Obama has pushed back at the criticism he received from progressive Democrats for suggesting pithy slogans like “defund the police” may actually prevent real change.

In a 32-minute interview that aired on Tuesday’s episode of “The Daily Show,” Obama expanded on his concern that the catchphrase ― essentially a rallying cry to redirect some government funding for the police to social services ― may put off potential supporters who don’t fully understand its aim.

It ultimately boils down to “how do you get enough people to support your cause that you can actually institutionalize it and translate it into laws, structures and so forth?” Obama explained to host Trevor Noah.

“I think that people assumed that somehow I was making an argument that that’s why we didn’t get a bigger Democratic majority” in Congress, Obama said of the criticism he received.

Instead, Obama said he was attempting to make a “very particular point around that, if we want to translate the very legitimate belief that how we do policing needs to change and that if there is, for example, a homeless guy ranting and railing in the middle of the street, sending a mental health worker, rather than an armed untrained police officer to deal with that person might be a better outcome for all of us and make us safer, right?”

“That, if we describe that to not just white folks, but let’s say Michelle’s mom, that makes sense to them,” the former president continued. “But if we say ‘defund the police,’ not just white folks, but Michelle’s mom might say, ‘If I’m getting robbed, who am I going to call and is somebody going to show up?’”