CLARENCE PAGE: Biden needed to defend himself against ‘defund the police’ smear

When President Joe Biden called for “funding the police” in his State of the Union speech, some outraged conservatives responded like a child whose favorite toy had been taken away.

That’s because the same folks who portray Biden’s election as “stolen,” Democratic electoral victories as “fraud” and the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol assault as “legitimate political discourse” still want to cling desperately to another big lie — that Biden wants to “defund” the police.

“Fund the police, keep kids in school, liberty and freedom, unmasking Americans,” chided a tweet from Rep. Byron Donalds, a Florida Republican. “Joe Biden is so desperate to get his approval rating up he’s stealing Republican talking points.”

No, not stealing, just steering. Biden is trying to steer public attention back from what Republicans like to think he said about the controversial “defund the police” movement, back to what he actually has said — repeatedly.

The truth isn’t enough for some people, especially in politics. Many Democratic Party insiders blame this particular Biden myth for the party’s failure to meet down-ballot expectations in 2020. Now they hope to stop it from causing more damage in the coming midterm elections in which the party is expected to suffer further losses.

Democrats’ own research recently showed that some voters in battleground districts think the party is “preachy” and “focused on culture wars,” according to Politico. That’s politics. Although the conservative wing of the Grand Old Party actually declared a “culture war” against “liberal elites” in recent decades, now pollsters say voters are blaming Democrats for its excesses.

True or not — and there’s no question that both parties have had their excesses — unless Democrats rebut Republicans’ attacks on issues such as defunding the police, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has warned that they could lose substantial ground to the GOP in the upcoming midterm elections.

Yet, progressive voices inside and outside the party slammed Biden for what The New York Times’ Charles Blow called “a callous attempt to appease the law-and-order crowd.”

Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., one of the most vocal supporters in Congress of the “defund” movement, attacked Biden on Twitter for not mentioning “saving Black lives” in his address. “All our country has done is (give) more funding to police,” she tweeted. “The result? 2021 set a record for fatal police shootings.”

No, Biden also didn’t mention the word “race” or his often-repeated call for equity. But he did call on the Senate to pass the Freedom to Vote Act, pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and, “while you’re at it, pass the DISCLOSE Act so Americans can know who is funding our elections.”

In other words, I don’t think Biden is caving to the “lock-’em-all-up” folks. The record shows he’s just being the Joe Biden we knew before he was elected president: a traditional middle-of-the-road, pro-labor Democrat who loves the inside game of getting bills passed with votes from both parties. And he never wanted to defund the police.

As I have often said, I support holding police accountable and crime solutions that work, but the “defund the police” slogan, such as”abolish the police” and “Black Lives Matter” is a movement in pursuit of a program. Without an agenda or some form of centralized leadership, such slogans are too easily hijacked by those who probably don’t have the movement’s best interests in mind.

That’s what’s happened to “defund the police.” Polls show far greater support for more spending on police budgets than less.

Although there’s nothing wrong with local governments re-evaluating where funding might do the most good — directing money to violence reduction, mental health and other social programs that can take unnecessary burdens off police — the “defund” movement has too often led to confusion, lowered police morale and bitter political feelings while violent crime rates have climbed in many cities, even before the pandemic.

That’s why some city leaders across the country have walked back their decisions to cut police funding while others, such as Mayor Lori Lightfoot, opposed such cuts all along and allocated more funding.

“We should all agree: The answer is not to defund the police,” Biden said. “The answer is to fund the police with the resources and training they need to protect our communities.”

It was one of the rare remarks that evening that brought robust applause from both parties. Who could oppose a call to “keep our neighborhoods safe?”

But he also wants universal background checks, a ban on untraceable “ghost guns” and other controversial measures.

Let the debates begin. But let’s be honest about what’s being debated.

Contact Clarence Page at cpage@chicagotribune.com.