Threat or menace?
Here’s the open thread I promised. Try not to get blood on anything I can’t launder.
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{ 10 } Comments
And yes, “threat or menace” was a joke.
It is both a threat and a menace to those who prefer things “status quo”.
It’s also both a threat and a menace to people who think the direction of change should be positive for the community, and not just for the organizer.
Unfortunately, much like proving the existance of God, proving that the organizer has good intentions is nearly impossible. But the simple fact that they want to institute change whether for personal, political or moral reasons is a good sign that they are invested in making things that they perceive incorrect, correct. I admire anybody who takes action to fight for what they believe in. There are very VERY few people (excluding maybe Mother Theresa) who will bother to lift a finger if it does not involve some sort of personal gratification or acknowledgement. To expect anything less is nieve.
Wouldn’t it be best, then, to measure the community organizer’s good effects?
If two opposing sides could agree on the method of measurement and the definition of “good effects” then yes, it would be best. However, I suspect you and I could look at the same information and form two different conclusions.
Therefore, what I think is best is for there to be some level of respect for the role a community organizer plays in our democratic society.
It is my opinion that the role of the president and secondly vice president is somewhat that of community organizer (in general)…on a global scale…I am surprised that McPalin would chose to belittle such a role. It is unfortunate a running mate could not be found with enough dignity to respect the role others have played. I believe she opened the door to receive the same level of criticism on a much larger scale and by millions of people.
But my opinion is subject to change in light of new information…good thing I’m not Obama, otherwise some would call it “flip flopping to get votes”.
If people can’t agree on how to measure the good effects, how can we agree the effects are even desirable?
If I don’t want what you consider good, why wouldn’t I think the “community organizer” was doing harm?
I’m sure ‘community organizer’ can refer to a great many different people doing different things.
As to what Obama did, and taught, here are some leads I’m collecting:
http://clintondems.com/2008/09/obamasalinskys-community-organizing-about-power-many-articles/
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Here is a brief treatment from a current article – pls use the lnk and read the whole article.
http://windycitizen.com/2008/07/ask-a-community-organizer-what-is-community-organizing-anyway#comment-1539
Obama’s “community organizer” phase was about political power, not soup kitchens
But there is nothing touchy or feely about community
organizing. It has more in common with the brutal contact sport of
Chicago politics than it does with any kind of charitable act, such as
serving food to homeless people.
———–
In The New Republic:
“The Agitator” about Obama’s ‘community organizer‘ days
http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=a74fca23-f6ac-4736-9c78-f4163d4f25c7&p=1
———
More leads at the clintondems.com site.
fsteel, thanks for providing this information. I knew someone would bring these up.
It sounds like some people confuse Community Organizer with community service. One requiring political savy the other being a soup kitchen volunteer. Obviously people are unfamiliar with Community Organizer’s in general and thought these were the same thing.
One of the articles I read on your list, http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/obama/chi-0704030881apr04-archive,0,5507395.story indicates that at one time every single one of Obama’s oppenents running for office had illigitimate signatures for getting on the ballot and that Obama stood up to this kind of political “white lie” to ensure that the ballot had only legally qualified candidates. Guess who was the only legal candidate? Obama. The author actually implies this was a dirty trick of Obama’s!! So what if the other candidates used illigitimate signatures to get their name on the ballot….who is Obama or anyone else to make sure people follow the law? who are we to ask for honesty in politics? Who are we to demand candidates adhere to strict ethical guidelines? Apparently we don’t, or shouldn’t according to the author, but fortunately Obama feels differently and does demand a fair fight. Regardless of motive, he had the legal right to challenge those signatures AND PROVED they were illigitimate.
Journalistic savy makes it easy to spin these stories in a negative light, but if you look at it for what it is, it actually promotes Obama. You and I look at these articles but you buy into the spin and think it is negative against Obama and or even community organization, I read it, ignore the spin and feel it only further solidifies who he is and why I want to vote for him.
Charlie, Governor Palin and Mayor Guiliani’s comments didn’t imply the community organizer does harm, the belittled and demean the role of community organizer. It is the community organizer who has historically played a role in the weekend, 8 hour workdays, intigration, public transportation, health care for children, safe neighborhoods etc. It was well said by Laura Barrett that “community organizing is behind most of the family-oriented initiates we benefit from every day”.
Kim Bobo, executive director of Interfaith Worker Justice, says:
“Contrary to Palin’s disparaging remarks, organizers have major responsibilities for creating policy changes. Feeding the hungry and housing the homeless are clearly responsibilities of people of faith. We do that by providing food and shelter and more importantly, by organizing to address the causes of injustice and inequity which lead to hunger and homelessness.”
So, do you in fact think the role of community organizing is harmful in general, or do you just like when other people you support childishly put down someone you don’t support?
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