--- title: President Obama to Colin Kaepernick: Consider Others' Pain description: President Obama urged both sides of the debate to consider how the other may feel during a CNN town hall with members of the military. canonical: https://time.com/4512595/president-obama-colin-kaepernick-town-hall/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-29T03:13:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T00:54:09.047Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Obama to Colin Kaepernick: Consider Others' Pain og:description: And wants military families to do the same for the quarterback og:url: https://time.com/4512595/president-obama-colin-kaepernick-town-hall/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6aec09131abe50d1/6988a803428a9eca42cd46f4/gettyimages-610937026.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: US-POLITICS-OBAMA og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Obama to Colin Kaepernick: Consider Others' Pain twitter:description: And wants military families to do the same for the quarterback twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6aec09131abe50d1/6988a803428a9eca42cd46f4/gettyimages-610937026.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Obama Wants Colin Kaepernick to Consider 'Pain' of Military Families > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Sep 29, 2016 3:13 AM UTC  President Obama participates in a CNN Town Hall meeting with Jake Tapper with members of the U.S. Army at Fort Lee, Virginia, Sept. 28, 2016. President Obama participates in a CNN Town Hall meeting with Jake Tapper with members of the U.S. Army at Fort Lee, Virginia, Sept. 28, 2016. Saul Loeb—AFP/Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Sep 29, 2016 3:13 AM UTC President Barack Obama wants [Colin Kaepernick](http://time.com/4504014/colin-kaepernick-kneel/), the San Francisco 49ers quarterback whose national anthem protests have spurred similar action across the National Football League, to consider the “pain” of military families who take his kneeling personally. The President was asked how he felt about NFL players taking a knee during the national anthem during a [CNN town hall](http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/28/politics/obama-radical-islamic-terrorism-cnn-town-hall/index.html) with members of the military and their families that aired on Wednesday. Obama urged both sides of the debate to consider how the other may feel. For [Kaepernick and members of the NFL](http://time.com/4511887/colin-kaepernick-donald-trump-hillary-clinton/), that means military families and others who have sacrificed for the country. For those who question the protests, that means the families of unarmed black men and woman who have died at the hands of police and in other ways they find unjust. “I want Mr. Kaepernick and others who are on a knee, I want them to listen to the pain that they may cause someone who, for example, had a spouse or a child who was killed in combat,” Obama said. “But I also want people to think about the pain that he may be expressing about somebody who has lost a loved one that they think was unfairly shot.” The question was among the many tough ones Obama faced from the military crowd. He was asked why he does not use the phrase “[radical Islamic terrorism.](http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/28/politics/obama-radical-islamic-terrorism-cnn-town-hall/index.html)” Capt. Lauren Serrano quoted a Marine Corps study that showed mixed gender units perform worse and evacuate dangerous areas slower than all-male units in a question about the benefits of opening up combat positions to women. A widow, speaking through tears, asked the President about helping veterans with [post traumatic stress disorder](http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/28/politics/obama-veteran-suicide-presidential-town-hall-cnn/index.html). “This is something we have to talk about more,” Obama told Amanda Souza, whose son serves and whose husband committed suicide after experiencing trauma in combat. “There’s nothing weak about asking for help.” The Town Hall came the same day Obama was hit with his first veto override of his presidency. The President addressed that early in the discussion with Jake Tapper, calling the action by Congress a “[mistake](http://time.com/4512509/president-obama-veto-override-mistake/?xid=homepage).” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4512595/president-obama-colin-kaepernick-town-hall/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4512595/president-obama-colin-kaepernick-town-hall/"},"headline":"President Obama Wants Colin Kaepernick to Consider 'Pain' of Military Families","datePublished":"2016-09-29T03:13:01.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T00:54:09.047Z","description":"And wants military families to do the same for the quarterback","url":"https://time.com/4512595/president-obama-colin-kaepernick-town-hall/","keywords":["Military","Barack Obama","White House","Obama"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6aec09131abe50d1/6988a803428a9eca42cd46f4/gettyimages-610937026.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6aec09131abe50d1/6988a803428a9eca42cd46f4/gettyimages-610937026.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-POLITICS-OBAMA","caption":"US-POLITICS-OBAMA","creditText":"Saul Loeb—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4512595/president-obama-colin-kaepernick-town-hall/","name":"President Obama Wants Colin Kaepernick to Consider 'Pain' of Military Families"}}]}] ```