Obama Raps DNC for Limiting AOC’s Speaking Time at Convention: ‘She Speaks to a Broad Cross-Section of Young People’
Former President Barack Obama said the Democratic Party should promote new voices, and criticized the short speaking time allotted to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at the Democratic National Convention.
During an interview on Peter Hamby’s Good Luck America show on Snapchat, the host asked President Obama about the popularity of socialist-leaning policies among young people.
“What’s the message, what’s the pro-capitalist message, frankly, the Democrats can offer to young people?” Hamby asked.
“Socialism is still a loaded term for a lot of folks,” Obama said, and went on to add that “we should focus on talking about getting certain things done. Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders both agree about raising the minimum wage,” and that “Joe Biden and AOC think we should do something about climate change. What are the concrete steps that we can actually take to get that done?”
“My advice for the Democratic party is, telling a story,” he continued, and cited his own tendency to be “professorial sometimes,” but also his ability to tell stories that are unifying.
“Now one thing I will say about the Democratic Party, promoting young people is really important,” President Obama said. “We stick so long with the same old folks, and don’t make room for new voices.”
“The Democratic National Convention, I thought, was really successful considering the pandemic, but I think that the fact that AOC only got, what, three minutes or five minutes when, you know, she speaks to a broad section of young people who are interested in what she has to say even if they don’t agree with everything she says,” Obama said.
“New blood’s always good, and I say that somebody who used to be the young shiny cool guy, but now is the gray haired old grizzled vet,” President Obama concluded.
For her part, AOC was among the members of the “Squad” who pushed back on comments Obama made elsewhere in the interview, in which he criticized the political impact of the slogan “Defund the Police.”
Watch above via Good Luck America.
