Like it or not, these ideas have to be branded to get people behind them so wording is incredibly important. You don’t want your slogan to sound too reductive like you’re taking something away rather than replacing it with something better, or be open to willfull misinterpretation and attack from the opposing political side. “Defund the police” accomplishes both those things. That’s not a good thing.

Like it or not, you’ve got to consider optics and how things play if don’t want your messaging or your slogan to undermine your agenda. You’ll spend more time and energy combating the effects of bad messaging than you do fighting for progress.

Obama had a point. Snappy slogans aren’t always the best way to go. There’s a trade-off, and it’s not always worth it.