Former President Barack Obama gave an interview to a Snapchat political show hosted by Peter Hamby, which was fully released Wednesday. The former president has been much more outspoken in politics and the 2020 presidential race than those before him who generally refrained from being publicly political. In general, Democrats eat up every word and movement the former president makes; except in this case.
Obama has upset progressive members of the “Squad” with his remarks about the ‘defund the police’ movement. “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 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.”
Ironically, the “Squad” took issue with Obama’s comments despite the fact that he didn’t even remotely disagree with the notion of defunding the police itself, but rather, the public relations consequences of the slogan used. Regardless, members of the “Squad” took to Twitter to express their discontent with the former president’s words.
“We lose people in the hands of police. It’s not a slogan but a policy demand. And centering the demand for equitable investments and budgets for communities across the country gets us progress and safety” Tweeted Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-MN). Omar overlooked that he was not talking about the “policy demand,” simply the slogan. Despite her best efforts, ‘defund the police’ is in fact, a slogan for their incredibly aggressive “demands.”
Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) joined her colleague’s public outcry tweeting, “Rosa Parks was vilified & attacked for her civil disobedience. She was targeted. It’s hard seeing the same people who uplift her courage, attack the movement for Black lives that want us to prioritize health, funding of schools & ending poverty, rather than racist police systems.”
Wow, Tlaib openly admitted she wants to put “health, funding of schools & ending poverty” on the backburner, going so far as to say it’s “hard seeing” those being prioritized. Democratic Missouri Congresswoman-elect Cori Bush lambasted Obama with her tweet: “With all due respect, Mr. President – let’s talk about losing people. We lost Michael Brown Jr. We lost Breonna Taylor. We’re losing our loved ones to police violence. It’s not a slogan. It’s a mandate for keeping our people alive. Defund the police.”
If the idolized face of the Democratic party Barack Obama himself, who frankly likely agrees with everything they are saying except to use the “snappy slogan” can’t please these progressive lawmakers, no one can!