President Barack Obama covers the December 2015 issue of GQ as one of the magazine’s Men of the Year. President Obama connects with HBO’s Bill Simmons for a White House interview. Asked about how he addressed Ferguson in a diplomatic manner, Obama responds, “You know, the challenge of Ferguson and all issues related to police shootings, race, and the criminal-justice system is that in order to actually get something done, you have to build consensus. Expressing simple outrage without follow-up is often counterproductive.”
Obama explains, “In the case of Ferguson, I’m the attorney general’s boss. If I chime in with a strong opinion about what’s happened, not only do I stand to potentially damage subsequent law-enforcement cases, but immediately you get blowback and backlash that may make people less open to listening. What was different in Charleston was the clarity of what happened—that allowed, I think, everybody to be open to it.”
Discussing the issue of race, Obama continues, “The fact that race has always been the fault line of our society and has always distorted our politics—that is not subject to argument. Part of what you’re looking for is a way not to just vent but to actually move the people.” Read more on GQ.com.
