Former US President Barack Obama says the Democratic Party should better promote young people like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), and has cautioned against using the "defund the police" slogan.
Speaking on the Snapchat program Good Luck America, Mr Obama said the party tended to "stick so long with the same old folks" and didn't make room for new voices.
He pointed out that Ms Ocasio-Cortez was given little time to speak during the Democratic National Convention in August.
"She [AOC] 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 ... new blood is always good," Mr Obama said.
The 44th US president also warned against using slogans such as "defund the police," arguing it could polarise the American public.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez addresses the second night of the virtual 2020 Democratic National Convention. Source: Getty
"If you believe, as I do, that we should be able to reform the criminal justice system so that it's not biased and treats everybody fairly, I guess you can use a snappy slogan like 'defund the police'," Mr Obama said.
"But, you know, you've lost 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."
The phrase rose to prominence among Black Lives Matter protesters in the aftermath of George Floyd's death.
Mr Obama has since received backlash from members of the Democratic party - including Ms Ocasio-Cortez - for his comments.
"We lose people in the hands of police," Congresswoman Ilhan Omar wrote on Twitter. "It's not a slogan, it's a policy demand."
Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley also tweeted her criticism, saying she was tried of critiques of activist language when lives were at stake daily.
"The murders of generations of unarmed black folks by police have been horrific," she said.
"Lives are at stake daily so I'm out of patience with critiques of the language of activists."
Ms Ocasio-Cortez, meanwhile, argued that the slogan was the campaign's biggest asset.
"The thing that critics of activists don’t get is that they tried playing the 'polite language' policy game and all it did was make them easier to ignore," she said.
"It wasn’t until they made folks uncomfortable that there was traction to do ANYTHING even if it wasn’t their full demands."
Expressing concern about what he has previously called a "deeply divided" country during the interview, Mr Obama urged the Democratic Party and activists to unite Americans.
“The key is deciding, do you want to actually get something done, or do you want to feel good among the people you already agree with?" he said.
"If you want to get something done in a democracy, in a country as big and diverse as ours, then you've got to meet people where they are and play a game of addition, not subtraction."
