Obama on ‘Defund the Police’ Slogan: ‘You Lose a Big Audience the Minute You Say It’

EXCERPT:

OBAMA: "It’s interesting, we take for granted that if you want people to buy your sneakers, then you’re going to market it to an audience. If a musician drops a record, they’re going to try to reach certain audiences, speaking to folks where they are. It’s no different in terms of ideas. 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’ve 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. But if you instead say ‘Let’s reform the police department so that everybody’s being treated fairly, divert young people from getting into crime, and if there’s a homeless guy, maybe we send a mental health worker there instead of an armed unit that could end up resulting in a tragedy.’ Suddenly, a whole bunch of folks who might not otherwise listen to you are listening to you. So 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? And if you want to get something done, in a democracy, in a country as big and diverse as ours, then you’ve got to be able to meet people where they are, and play a game of addition and not subtraction."

(h/t Mediaite)