A Slogan or a Policy Demand? Obama’s Comments on Defund the Police
By: Elizabeth Rose
Tags: United States, Democratic Party, Politics, Defundthepolice, Obama

Former President Obama spoke candidly in an interview with Peter Hamby, host of Good Luck America, a Snapchat political show, about his thoughts on Democratic messaging, and specifically on the use of “Defund the Police.”

Obama termed Defund the Police a “snappy slogan” but once used, “you los[e] 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.”

This is not the first time Defund the Police has been criticized for its confusing messaging. Proponents of Defund the Police refer to to the movement as a policy demand focused on reallocating, but not abolishing, funding from police departments to other social services such as social workers, therapists, crisis managers, and hospitals.

Representatives in Congress such as Reps. Booker, Bush, and Omar have adopted and defended this platform, hoping to ensure a more equitable and safer police system throughout their communities and refocusing the message not just on its title, but on the platform and the lost lives to police violence from which it was fostered.

Tweet by @IlhanMN

While there has been a lot of attention on Obama’s critique of the phrase Defund the Police, the rest of his interview suggests he does agree with the substance of the movement.

“[I]f instead you say, Hey, you know what? Let’s reform the police department so that everybody’s being treated fairly. And not just in policing, but in sentencing, how can we divert young people from getting into crime? And if there was a homeless guy, can maybe we send a mental health worker there instead of an armed unit that could end up resulting in tragedy?”

The disagreement between the former president and members of Congress is precisely what is sparking controversy around Defund the Police throughout the nation. Proponents of Defund the Police took issue with their policy demand being boiled down to a slogan. Because when Defund the Police is boiled down to a slogan, it is misunderstood and the greater idea that it is trying to communicate is overlooked.

But that is the problem.

Defund the police is both a slogan and a policy demand. Defund the police is a title, a hashtag, and a unifying signal for a set of ideals. In other words, it is a slogan. It also stands for policies oriented toward funding reallocations in the hopes of creating a more equitable community.

But when the words of your slogan do not match up with the calls of your movement, it is easy to confuse and alienate people.

Unlike other policy slogans like Obamacare, Medicare for All, Green New Deal, Black Lives Matter, or America First, Defund the Police shows its hand. It says what it is going to do in its title, except it doesn’t.

While a slogan like the Green New Deal evokes questions about what exactly the policy entails, people can be easily turned away by Defund the Police when they disagree with the premise on its face. Defund generally means eliminate, cut off funding, or abolish. If you want to see police reformed, but not eliminated, the defunding message cuts off discussion, rather than promotes it, even when people might agree with the actual policy underlying the slogan.

Though polling is still being conducted, the early statistics suggest this to be true. An Axios survey conducted in September asked people to give their thoughts on “reducing the funding for the police in your community in order to fund an increase in social services of programs like housing and mental health.” The question phrased in this manner, polled 17 percentage points higher than did a prompt asking about the subjects thoughts on “defunding the police.”

Similarly, a Politico/Morning Consult survey asked if “redirecting funding for the police department in your local community to support community development programs” was a favorable policy. Phrased in this manner, the policy was favored by 31 net points over a question using the phrase defund the police. An Economist/YouGov survey asked two similarly phrased questions, this time with the Defund the Police message being outpolled by 37 points. Several other polls maintained similar results.

Again, while the data on this is still sparse, attack ads which painted a candidate as in support of Defund the Police, tended to hurt the candidate. One survey found that Joe Biden lost 11 points among independent voters after an ad showed him in favor of Defund the Police. Down ballot in other races, Republicans flipped seats and won where such attacks were used.

Reform the Police or Reallocate Community Funding would probably be a more accurate, albeit a less “snappy” slogan for the movement. It is understandable that advocates would be hesitant to rebrand at this point, however, unless the messaging on engaging and educating voters on the real meaning of Defund the Police is deployed immediately and highly effectively, this narrative seems ripe to continue to divide and isolate otherwise persuadable voters.

In a country that is already defined by political divisions, we should not pick a battle that further divides us. The heart of this argument is one of technicalities.

It is possible to love a book, but hate the cover. And sometimes, if we are turned off by the cover, we never give the book a chance. Much of the country agrees with the Defund the Police message, but are turned off by the title.

The message is progressive, inclusive, and works to the benefit of citizens and police officers alike. The policies of Defund the Police can bring real and literally life altering new directions to communities. If re-branding a title, but preserving the message, will help bring about that change, we should consider doing so.