Obama: Attack On Disabled Man In Chicago Was 'Despicable'

By Rachel Cromidas in News on Jan 5, 2017 11:39PM

President Barack Obama gave exclusive interviews to several Chicago TV news outlets Thursday, in which he touched on Chicago's ongoing violence problem and called out one particularly brutal recent incident in which four people have been accused of attacking a mentally disabled man, tying him up and cutting him with a knife.

Obama returns to Chicago next week to give what is being heralded as the final speech of his presidency.

“What we have seen as surfacing, I think, are a lot of problems that have been there a long time,” Obama said in an interview with CBS2. “Whether it’s tensions between police and communities, hate crimes of the despicable sort that has just now recently surfaced on Facebook.”

Obama told ABC7 that he personally, and his presidential center by extension, will make an effort to intervene in violence, support at-risk youth and "be part of the solution" to Chicago's violence problem.

"What I intend to do is build off of some of the work that has been done in other cities to intervene in violence, provide better support to youth who are at risk, and my Presidential Center, this is something where we want to join those who are intent to do something about this," he said. "I want to be part of the solution."

"This wasn't a task for one year, one term, or even one president," he added.