President Barack Obama said on an ESPN radio show today that he believes that the NFL was “behind the curve” when it comes to dealing with domestic violence cases. The statement came just days after the league’s team owners approved a new personal conduct policy.
While on The Herd with Colin Cowherd, Obama said that the NFL’s mishandling of the Ray Rice scandal did help bring more national attention to domestic violence.
“The way it was handled also indicates that the NFL was behind the curve, as a lot of institutions have been behind the curve, in sending a clear message,” Obama said, notes the Daily News. “You don’t want to be winging it when something like this happens. You want to have clear policies in place.”
Obama added that the new personal conduct policy does show that the league is moving in the right direction, making it clear that “there’s no place for that kind of behavior in society, whether it’s in sports or anyplace else.”
In addition, the president said it was a good thing that the situation rose awareness of domestic violence in the U.S.
“Obviously, the situation that happened in the Rice family was important, but it did lift up awareness that this is a real problem that we have to root out and men have to change their attitudes and their behavior,” Obama said.
CNN reports that Obama did say he saw the video of Rice hitting his now-wife in an elevator, which he said “shocked” him.
The new personal conduct policy listed several changes to the old policies, including the creation of a Conduct Committee, which will seek counsel from outside experts to annually review the policy. The NFL also vowed to launch independent investigations more often and will not rely only on the criminal justice system to make its disciplinary decisions.
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