"Community organizer."
If you've heard the term, you likely learned about it through Barack Obama's memoir or one of his speeches where he talks about his time working in poor neighborhoods on Chicago's South Side in the 1980s. He refers to this time in his life a lot. Obama leans on it, hard, while stumping. But what does it mean?
"One of my fundamental beliefs from my days as a community organizer is that real change comes from the bottom up ... And there's no more powerful tool for grassroots organizing than the Internet."
What do community organizers actually do? How do they do it? And how has Obama's experience as a community organizer shaped his run for the presidency?
Since 2002, I have worked with several Chicago-based community organizers and even done some organizing myself. My experience has taught me to view Barack Obama, Chicago's most famous community organizer, in a different light than you will likely encounter from most political commentators.
Community organizing is old-fashioned, bare-knuckle politics for the little guy.
Were you picturing Obama in a soup kitchen instead? It is not your fault. When Obama talks about his time as a community organizer, he does not go beyond a vague and benign description of how he worked with unemployed steelworkers and their families to fight for change. Media coverage of Obama's days as a community organizer has not been much better. Most journalists tend either to repeat stories that Obama has told in his books, or merely interview people who worked with him at the time without giving you a clear idea of what community organizing entails.
The words "community organizing" themselves probably present the biggest problem.
Hearing the touchy-feely sound of "community," you may assume organizing has something to do with community service, like working at a homeless shelter.
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. And like the neon-green relish that garnishes a Gold Coast dog, community organizing is pure Chicago.
Saul Alinsky: Godfather of modern community organizing, cleaning up cesspools by appealing to self-interest
The history of community organizing begins in the slums of Chicago's South Side in the 1930s, when Saul Alinsky organized the people who lived in the Back of the Yards, the neighborhood Upton Sinclair wrote about in The Jungle. Alinsky was himself a South Sider and knew that the Back of the Yards was not only one of the worst slums in the country, the neighborhood was also, as he put it in a 1972 interview for Playboy Magazine, "a cesspool of hate: the Poles, Slovaks, Germans, Negroes, Mexicans and Lithuanians all hated each other and all of them hated the Irish, who returned the sentiment in spades."
That was fine with Alinsky. His goal was not to get the people he organized to love each other, just work together. As Alinsky once put it, "to [expletive] your enemies, you've first got to seduce your allies."
Alinsky's key insight was that while poor people who lived in places like the Back of the Yards do not have access to traditional forms of power, they do have numbers. He believed that if enough poor people realized it was in their interest to work together and fight for particular issues, they could pressure people in power to give them what they want.
To build a base of support, Alinsky formulated a set of strategic principles he later taught people at the Industrial Areas Foundation, an institute he established to disseminate the art of community organizing. In 1965, shortly before he was assassinated, Malcom X said that Alinsky knew more about organizing than anybody in the country. Today, there are probably few community organizers alive who either do not have a direct connection to Alinsky or to one of his students.
One of the most important lessons that Alinsky taught community organizers is not to rely on high-minded ideals like "brotherly-love or "the common good" to get people to fight for particular goals. Instead, as a community organizer you are always looking for ways to appeal directly to a person's self-interest, whatever that may be. This is not to say ideals do not matter to community organizers. But at the end of the day, an ideal is only as good as what it can help you accomplish.
So, if you are a community organizer and want to organize an area, you first try to meet with as many indigenous leaders as possible, the kinds of men and women who populate neighborhood churches and civic groups that others will listen to and naturally follow. The purpose of these one-on-one meetings is not to become their friend. You want to find out what their self-interest is so you can use it. This includes milking their personal connections to expand your base of support. As a community organizer, the sole source of your power is your relationships. And the more people you have in your pocket, the more likely it is that you can use them to get what your base wants.
Here is a typical community-organizing scenario. Let's say you are a community organizer who has cultivated and trained a strong base of support and identified a particular problem to attack. You then target a public official who can get you something you want. Let's call him Official X. He chairs an appropriations committee that is deciding whether to fund a program your base supports. You and your base request a meeting with him. Official X agrees and asks that you come to his office. Before you go, you coach a core group of your base, the people you call ‘your leaders,' on what to say and how to behave at the meeting.
After painstakingly rehearsing everyone's roles, so that no part of the meeting is left to chance, you are ready to do the real thing. You take your leaders to the meeting, and you have one of them present your base's demands. Your leader explains to Official X what you want him to do, and why it is in his self-interest to do so. Whatever arguments your leader uses to make their case, he also makes sure that Official X understands that he will pay a price for not helping. If Official X stands in your way, your base is going to try to find a way to hurt him, whether it's by attacking him through the press, or turning out people to vote against him. If this tactic makes Official X angry, you could not care less. You do not want people in power to like you. As a community organizer, you want them to respect and fear you.
But you also make sure that Official X knows so long as he helps you out, you will help him out too. After all, as a community organizer, your job is not to change the system; it is to master and use the system's rules to your advantage.
If you think these tactics resemble standard forms of political intimidation, you are right.
As I said before, community organizing is old-fashioned, bare-knuckle politics for the little guy.
This is also what most coverage of Obama's days as a community organizer fails to appreciate. For whether you are an Alinksy-schooled community organizer or a Chicago politician, you are a student of power. If you have survived long enough to succeed in either position, like Obama has, you have learned not to worry so much about the power you have. What keeps you up at night is the power you do not have. In community organizing and politics, you know the only thing that can hurt you is what you cannot control.
Since Obama became the presumptive Democratic nominee for President, he has been accused of moving to the center and flip-flopping on positions he adopted during the primary. This criticism misses the point. In his recent moves, Obama, the community organizer, is simply trying to build new alliances as he neutralizes threats to his power. It is what any Chicago-trained community organizer worth his salt would do.
Update: I tried to write a neutral analysis of how Obama's community organizing experience has influenced his presidential campaign. Archpundit -- a stellar Illinois politics blogger -- see this experience as a significant advantage for Obama. Check out his take here.
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Comments
19 weeks 2 days ago
I wish you would say more about Obama's recent "moves to the center" as a way to consolidate power. How did supporting the FISA bill do that?
19 weeks 2 days ago
If Obama's thinking like a community organizer, his moves to the center, like the FISA bill vote, are simply pracitical ways to expand his base. Again, I think he's worried now not about the power he has, but the power he doesn't have, namely, the groups of people who think he is not tough enough, not patriotic enough, etc. That doesn't mean he no longer cares about the base that got him elected--but I would argue that as a community organizer, he thinks that the best thing he could do for this part of his base is to simply become president.
At bottom, community organizers like to win. If that means compromising on issues that might anger some parts of their base, but at the same grow other parts where they are weak which will also increase their chances of victory, they will do it everytime. For community organizers, it always comes down to numbers.
This isn't to say that Obama is right--I'm just trying to point out how community organizing may have influenced his thinking.
In many ways, this is a standard political reading of general election politics. My point is that it is also how community organizers operate as well.
19 weeks 10 hours ago
Simple - contray to what the left thinks and what the MSM puts out, the center of this country supports the FISA bill
19 weeks 2 days ago
Your response makes no sense to me. All the polls showed a huge majority of people opposed to telecom immunity and also to wiretapping without warrants. The only people that he appeases by supporting FISA are the present Democratic "leaders" like Hoyer who will just fall into line for him when he is elected and really conservative Republicans who are hard-core Bush supporters. Obama gets a lot more power by exciting and strengthening his base than by attempting to appease his enemies.
19 weeks 2 days ago
Thanks for your comments. This is what the Citizen is all about. Let me be clear. I'm not saying, I agree or disagree with Obama's FISA vote. You may be right that this will actually hurt him because it will alienate his supporters and not bring in new people. My only point is that community organizers think in terms of numbers. Whatever the polls show, I'm certain that Obama, putting on his community organizer hat, saw this vote as a chance to expand his base, even though it risked angering some of his core support. As a community organizer, I think Obama is not as worried about generating excitement amongst his core supporters as he with bringing more people into his camp. If a community organizer had to choose between a larger base of support or a smaller, more excited base--he'd choose the larger base any day of the week. But you're right about the FISA polling--so, like I said, maybe Obama made a huge mistake, but I would still argue this is how he's thinking about these issues. Thanks again for the comments.
19 weeks 10 hours ago
There is another explanation: that now he is, perhaps, just steps away from power, Obama's view has changed. Since he would be the one on the spot, he realizes that the reasons asserted during the primaries were specious and the Bush administration was not only justified in their positions on this, they were conducting the only responsible policies.
19 weeks 10 hours ago
Chris Darling, I am a conservative, generally, but not a fixated Republican. robmac is right and, I think, so is Maki. I do not like the theoretical loss of my privacy, but I am a law-abiding, bill paying, citizen, and I am not that worried whether or not someone will listen in on my conversations with my friends or relatives or business associates. However, I REALLY worry whether, in fact, FISA will protect my kids and family from dying. So the practical personal cost of FISA is minimal for me, whereas the potential personal benefits of FISA, and likely benefits I have already unknowingly realized--no attacks--are enormous. So, yes, this does appeal to the greater base. He will expand his base amongst wishy washy Republicans, eg. Catholic Republicans. I would never vote for a "hope doper" but he will definitely get some of my neighbors with this.
19 weeks 10 hours ago
Chris Darling, I am a conservative, generally, but not a fixated Republican. robmac is right and, I think, so is Maki. I do not like the theoretical loss of my privacy, but I am a law-abiding, bill paying, citizen, and I am not that worried whether or not someone will listen in on my conversations with my friends or relatives or business associates. However, I REALLY worry whether, in fact, FISA will protect my kids and family from dying. So the practical personal cost of FISA is minimal for me, whereas the potential personal benefits of FISA, and likely benefits I have already unknowingly realized--no attacks--are enormous. So, yes, this does appeal to the greater base. He will expand his base amongst wishy washy Republicans, eg. Catholic Republicans. I would never vote for a "hope doper" but he will definitely get some of my neighbors with this.
19 weeks 10 hours ago
In other words what you are saying is that Obama is practicing nothing more than old style Chicago politics. I always thought that his claim of a new kind of politics smelled like a skunk attack. To be honest about the FISA vote robmac, I was not surprised by the vote. I was more surprised that he failed to cover his backside by claiming that he mistook his vote and meant to vote against it. That line appears to have satisfied his base in the past afterall.
19 weeks 9 hours ago
Facts aside, sure!
19 weeks 8 hours ago
Cookiegramma--Thanks for your comment. I did not mean to suggest that Obama is simply practicing Chicago machine-style politics. My point is in some ways more narrow. I think a lot of people assume that community organizing is some kind of pie in the sky, touchy feely sort of thing. In many ways, it's the opposite. It's very pragmatic. It's about getting stuff done, and working with whomever you have to make it happen. That's why I said community organizing has more in common with Chicago politics than with working in a soup kitchen. Community organizing ain't charity work. Community organizing is about power---how to get it and how to use it effectively to get what your base wants.
19 weeks 9 hours ago
It is about calculation. Remember the point, he is working for his 'base,' and an expanding one at that. He often says, he is going to piss you off at some point (my wording). FISA seems to me to be an issue in which he had wiggle room, for who will withhold their vote for him for this reversal considering his stances on Iraq, the war on terror, economy, etc - this is a multiple issue race. He doesn't think that the phone companies should be held responsible for the criminal acts of the administration, I find that reasonable. The idea that the buck stop with verizon is ridiculous, but also American. If he expands his base to include moderates and independents he has a better shot at winning; but remember - WE ALL DO!
I am thinking that you'd rather be happy 75% of the time over never at all.
19 weeks 8 hours ago
Troy--I think your comment points to exactly what Obama's strategy is, as well explains its upsides and downsides.
19 weeks 9 hours ago
John,
Thank you for your article. You just confirmed what I thought about "community organizers". The 20-th century saw quite a few of them and the typical story is:
1. Use the democracy to get to the power,
2. Fail to deliver promised benefits,
3. Entice your power base to subvert democracy in order to get more power because the insufficient power is the only reason the promised benefit did not realized,
4. Get as close to totalitarism as possible because, again, the only reason community organizer (by now the great and dear leader) could not deliver on his promises is insufficient power and enemies of the people
5. Bring country to disaster
Out of all major countries that had this experience in the last century (Russia, Italy, Germany and USA) only this country managed to retain its democratic form of government even if we’ve got the president for life. Mercifully it lasted only 13 years.
I believe that due to a number of reasons Obama will never get to accomplish step 1 of the sequence, but in case he will I hope our institutional strength in freedom and democracy will prevent him from succeeding in step 3.
19 weeks 8 hours ago
Obama is building his core: Blacks and other minorities who identify with hiim because of color. He does this by suggesting his opponents (Clinton, McCain) are using the race card against him, when in fact he is using the racism card against them by accusing them falsely of making voters afraid of him because he's black. Therefore, Obama is a victim like them.
He also reaches out to whites by playing on white guilt about slavery (why not reparations?) and the poor treatment of Indians (Native Americans). To make yourself feel better, vote for me BECAUSE I'm black. With those two core consituencies -- minorities of color and those ashamed of America -- falling in behind him, he then needs to go after others, such as those who want a strong defense against terror and wonder if he's patritotic enough to fight terror. So switch to FISA support, forgetting all about that declaration to fiibuster till the immunity of telecoms was removed.
The writer is correct, Ideals have little to do with it. It's all about power. He learned that from his community organizing days and the Daley machine, which is running his campaign. He increased his already deep knowledge of black power in the pews of Reverend Wright's church and on Farrahkan's Million Man March. He ropes in the media by convincing them they are covering an historic happening in Amierica. Who to appeal to, who to intimidate is what the game is all about. Gather more allies than enemies and you will have power.
What he plans to do with that power if he becomes president is anyone's guess. What little that's clear is not reassuring.
19 weeks 8 hours ago
You have just about nailed it. The only part you left out is the part where we beat the hell out of anyone that doesn't cooperate. The Chicago river is where you may find some of those uncooperative souls. You may not be able to recognize them, but that's kind of the way we planned it.
19 weeks 8 hours ago
My point is that it is also how community organizers operate as well.
19 weeks 8 hours ago
It's been fun reading some of the commentary here and around the web. Some people think I'm attacking Obama, others think I'm praising him. This is great. In truth, I'm just trying to explain what I've learned about community organizing and apply it to Obama's campaign. So, please keep the commentary coming, and I'll try to respond to as much of it as I can. And while you're here, check out The Citizen. We got some great stuff here.
19 weeks 7 hours ago
I thought that the article was very interesting, well researched and very topical. I didn't view it 'for' or 'against' O. There's no doubt that most people have no clue what O did as a community organizer, how he did it and what his accomplishments were.
The process in general in Chicago as well as other major metros (NYC, Philly, SF) was right on.
I do believe that the process toughened O up, made him street wise, and enhanced his persistence and competitiveness. It did that for me and made my life competing against more privileged, softer, better financed people a piece of cake.
To me it's easy to see how this process made O a much more effective candidate. How his attitude and demeanor reflects this background/experience immensely.
To most it's a vague, ambiguous, loaded, misunderstood term. If you did a word association quiz, most would equate it with volunteerism somehow improving the lot of the poor, homeless and powerless. But instead, as you so eloquently pointed out, it means many different things to many people. Yet, it has a fundamental core, process and approach.
I read practically everything on realclearpolitics.com. This article was excellent!
19 weeks 1 hour ago
commentor brad--you are my new best friend.
19 weeks 5 hours ago
Forget Alinsky. Forget what community organizing is compared to the Obama Campaign. What is community organizing in reference to Obama and his PAST? Specifically, what has he done that he is allowed to use this generic term?
19 weeks 4 hours ago
two words - CONVICTION and CHARACTER.
12 weeks 6 days ago
Simon was right in his comments.
Obama's conviction is only to getting himself elected. That is why he can so easily change his position. Those that support him will always agree that he is just "adjusting his position" as compared to saying whatever is poltically expedient.
As a result, he has no character.
19 weeks 4 hours ago
Obama gained his public notariety in 1990 for being the first black president of the Harvard Law Review. Articles cited his background as a community organizer in Chicago. Most readers thought he was a gifted young black man, pulling himself up by his own bootstaps and helping his inner-city community at the same time. Because of the 1990 publicity, Obama was offered a book deal and a university professorship. He was a lawyer who never won a notable case and a law professor who never published a work on the law. His fame and style swept him into state and national offices. His credentials were primarily being able to present a speech from a teleprompter and the African physical characteristics of his bi-racial lineage. Who had ever heard of Barack Obama before his keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention? The presumptive POTUS is a novel novice.
19 weeks 4 hours ago
Obama gained his public notariety in 1990 for being the first black president of the Harvard Law Review. Articles cited his background as a community organizer in Chicago. Most readers thought he was a gifted young black man, pulling himself up by his own bootstaps and helping his inner-city community at the same time. Because of the 1990 publicity, Obama was offered a book deal and a university professorship. He was a lawyer who never won a notable case and a law professor who never published a work on the law. His fame and style swept him into state and national offices. His credentials were primarily being able to present a speech from a teleprompter and the African physical characteristics of his bi-racial lineage. Who had ever heard of Barack Obama before his keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention? The presumptive POTUS is a novel novice.
18 weeks 6 days ago
The NYTimes recently did a story on Obama's experience as a community organizer. It described a problem with asbestos in a housing project in Chicago. Obama attempted to organize residents of the housing project to confront the landlord. But instead of successfully managing the issue, general chaos broke out. Obama then left community organizing for Harvard.
Having been trained in community organizing, I know the drill. The training attempts to get one in touch with one's anger about injustices from the past, and then take those feelings into the present. Such a model does not create community. It engenders & rekindles past resentments and victimhood and sources your actions from that
The training does not attempt to make one see the injustice that just about all of us have experienced. The training takes the past into the present and makes it one's future. Such a model is unsustainable.
Obama's compassion for the poor is laudable, but a political campaign based upon techniques of corrupt urban centers that the majority of Americans have striven to either reform or escape from, is a tenuous model from which one attempts to win the Presidency of the USA.
18 weeks 6 days ago
After such a long stretch of community organizing, south Chicago should be paradise, but I don't think it is. The crummy projects still house unfortunates but the men who exploit their misery like Obama and Wright have million dollar mansions. As they say, there ought to be a law.
18 weeks 6 days ago
Thanks for the comment, Claire. Just a small point: as a community organizer, you are up against some powerful interests, while all you have are the people--most of whom have no access to traditional forms of power such as money or political connections. In some ways, you are picking a fight with Goliath--and despite what the good book says, most often the Davids of the world are going to lose that fight.
As for people who go on to make a lot of money and achieve a lot of influece after working in places like the South Side, I think they would argue that they found a more powerful way to make a difference.
18 weeks 6 days ago
I would like to know what Obama accomplished as a "Community Organizer", other than moving himself up the ladder. He must have been effective at getting something done in Chicago, to get so many people behind him so quickly. A lot of his early history seems to be very murky.
18 weeks 6 days ago
Andrew P--I look at Obama's organizing experience differently. No doubt he made some powerful connections, although I think a lot of these came after he returned to Chicago when he finished law school. To me, organizing is about using collective action to pressure powerful interests to help poor people. That said, organizing is not an obvious ladder to success or even traditional forms of power--like political office. There is a reason most people probably don't know what community organizing really is.
As to what Obama did as an organizer--he only worked as an organizer for a handful of years, so I think the experience and the lessons he learned had a clearer impact on him than his work at the time had on where he worked.
If I had one point to make in this piece it was that I would bet Obama's community organizing experience taught him how to use power, and claims that he is some kind of naive idealist are way off the mark.
Depending on how you feel about Obama, this is either a good or bad thing.
18 weeks 6 days ago
I really like the article, and it absolutely was much needed.
You mention in the update John that your intention was to be neutral; I think you may have overcompensated somewhat; the portrayal of the motives, methods, and character of the generic community organizer as an occupation came across to me as negative on the whole. There's a certain honesty to the basic strategy of appealing to the self interest of voters, in contrast to the other approach of appealing to vague generalizations and unexamined sentimental cliches; self interest needn't be seen as a negative. It also is grounded in the real world here and now, unlike some other political styles. When people want to improve their lives and themselves, and become motivated enough to act on it, it's not just those individuals that benefit. That's the genius of the pragmatic, incremental approach of the community organizer, and that to me is where you see the DNA of this job description in Obama's current campaign.
18 weeks 6 days ago
If this tactic makes Official X angry, you could care less.
I believe you actually meant to say "couldn't care less." If you "could care less" that means that you do indeed care that you that you made Official X angry. If you "couldn't care less" that means you do not care at all that you made Official X angry. As in "It is impossible that I could care any less than I do now that I made Official X angry."
Your use of the phrase "could care less" is all too common and usually used in error. I believe that you really meant to say "couldn't care less."
18 weeks 6 days ago
Mark--thanks for your incisive comments. I see your point that my description of the methodology of community organizing might seem negative. That wasn't my intention, and perhaps I was overcompensating as I tried to knock down how community organizing has been talked about during this campaign season. However, in my defense, my descriptions track how I have heard long-time community organizers talk about what they do.
I think some of these negative connotations might come from how many of us think about the mere reference to power or self interest. That is, when people pursue power grounded in self interest, a lot of us assume they are immediately suspect. But as you eloquently point out--there is nothing negative or bad in itself about self interest or the effective use of power. This is just the way that power works, which community organizers are very honest about. This is how archpundit puts it: "Using power in a democratic fashion is nothing to be ashamed of and it inhibits our discussion to avoid discussing it."
18 weeks 6 days ago
Joe--I wish I had your editorial eye. Thanks for the correction.
18 weeks 5 days ago
What did Obama's community organizing actually accomplish? Did it make the neighborhoods safer? Create more neighborhood jobs? Result in better schools?
No one ever mentions all the good that came out of it because nothing seems to have changed.
One half of all Chicagoans live lives of quiet desperation. And an Obama presidency will never change that.
Yeah sure, he will give them "hope" but nothing else.
18 weeks 5 days ago
S. Pakulla--thanks for your comment. To be fair to Obama, he was only a community organizer for three years or so. Changing things on the ground through community organizing takes years. And any success you achieve will likely be coupled with a lot more failure.
18 weeks 2 days ago
Thank you for this article and the discussion it inhibits. Learning these things about Obama only fuels my support for him. It reenforces the "robin hood" like stigma i feel surrounds him. Basically, pressuring the rich and powerful to help or give to the poor, is something that has always appealed to me. Some might call that Marxist or whatever, but as a working class man sitting somewhat comfortably in my middle class duplex in Indiana, I feel it is high time a politician with Obama's guts and willingness to find compromise occupied our highest office.
17 weeks 6 days ago
Whenever I am at a loss t o try and understand why Sen Obama says and does what he says and does…I go back to your article Mr Maki THANK YOU!!! Well done.
Your article moved me like few other articles that I have read in the past-you know the feeling you get when ‘a light comes on in the attic’ and you wake up and see reality?
My concern is this...I really dont know if sen obama learned anything from his experience as a community organizer. I dont know how far back Sen Obama's relationships with his various handlers go so I dont know who ran his show.
I know very little about Sen Obama's past because, with 90 days to go till election, he still has not released the following fairly routine documents for public inspection . For example:
1.Certified Copy of original Birth certificate. Certificate on his website proven to be a fake.
2. Columbia College records (including admissions and financial aid/scholarship/student loan applications info if applicable)
3. Columbia Thesis paper
4. Certification of Live Birth (COLB)
5. Harvard College records(including admissions and financial aid/scholarship/student loan application s info info if applicable)
6. Illinois State Senate records
7. Illinois State Senate schedule
8. Law practice client list and billing records/summary
9. Locations of all step-siblings and step-mothers
10. Medical records
11. Occidental College records (including admissions and financial aid/scholarship info if applicable)
12. Parent’s Marriage Certificate
13. Record of baptism
14. Selective Service Registration
15. Trips schedules for trips outside of the United States before 2007
16. University of Chicago scholarly articles
17. Campaign donor analysis requested by 7 major watchdog groups
Assume for a moment that the author of the article I link to in this post is correct in saying that
"if you are a community organizer and want to organize an area, you first try to meet with as many indigenous leaders as possible, the kinds of men and women who populate neighborhood churches and civic groups that others will listen to and naturally follow. The purpose of these one-on-one meetings is not to become their friend. You want to find out what their self-interest is so you can use it. This includes milking their personal connections to expand your base of support. As a community organizer, the sole source of your power is your relationships. And the more people you have in your pocket, the more likely it is that you can use them to get what your base wants. "
Then, if the author is correct, I have a question as this relates to Sen Obama- Since we know so VERY LITTLE about him and he has a paper thin list of accomplishments that can be directly, 100% linked to his direct efforts... then I ask ...who is Sen Obama's base? His real base?
And...what is Sen Obama trying to get for this base?
What is Sen Obama passionate about in the arena of social and economic justice and fairness ? What in his past can be used as an indicator of this [passion?
And my last question concerns politicians and delegates who formerly supported Sen Clinton but switched at the last moment to Sen Obama- how did Sen Obama get these politicians in his pocket? What did he learn about them? What is in their self interest that they want so badly that they were able to toss aside their loyalty to Sen Clinton & her work for our country-and...support Sen Obama? What did he offer them in exchange for their vote-what did Sen Obama offer these former Clinton supporters-supporters who shared similiar values, public mission statements and work ethics as HRC... that Sen Clinton could not have offered them too?
Andy j-
When I look at Sen Obama's voting record...Sen Obama DOES NOT apear to support the poor or middle class people Read these and come to conclusion for yourself. ANALYSE HIS ACTIONS- HIS VOTES-HIS CHOICES-HIS DECISIONS- NOT HIS WORDS. Sen Obam's words are ephemeral- thy have meaning for a day or two- depending upon who his particular audience is that day.
PLEASE- no matter who you choose to vote for in Novmber-read these articles first:
http://www.beyondchron.org/articles/The_Obama_Craze_Count_Me_Out_5413.ht...
http://amok.asianweek.com/2008/02/28/obamas-campaign-finance-chair-has-l...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_Pritzker
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C05E4D71E3CF934A3575BC0A...
Now…all his votes in Congress on subprime mortgage issue are beginning to make more sense…
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080211/fraser
The Nation, “Subprime Obama” by Max Fraser 1/24/08 Post 2/11/08 issue
“Obama’s disappointing foreclosure plan stems …
http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2008/03/i-am-barack-obama....
I ask you...who is Sen Obama's REAL BASE? WHo has he stayed with the longest time-and who or what is close to his heart and soul , and to his family's (his wife and two daughters) heart and soul ?
17 weeks 6 days ago
politicslsdry says "two words - CONVICTION and CHARACTER."
two of many corresponding replies : REZKO and WRIGHT
17 weeks 6 days ago
Athy, please forgive the lag in your post appearing, comments with multiple links in them are held over for approval to keep out the spammers. Thanks for your thoughtful contribution to the conversation.
17 weeks 6 days ago
No problem about the delay.
Thanks for this excellent website & intelligent content you guys produce & collect !
17 weeks 6 days ago
Thanks. Tell your friends to tell their friend to tell their friends about us!
17 weeks 6 days ago
you bet.
Independent journalists, citizen journalists, bloggers are our real 'fourth estate'.
The main stream media (MSM) has let us down. They are no longer the watchdogs for our republic and our democracy.
Thank you for all you do...
and...
keep on doing it!
17 weeks 4 days ago
SHOUT OUT TO INDEPENDENT JOURNALISTS,CITIZEN JOURNALISTS, INFORMED BLOGGERS AND OTHERS…
Can anyone please confirm or refute the following information being presented as facts on various blog sites:
Sen Obama went to Pakistan while in college, and has questionable associations with ‘shady’ characters in Hyderabad India-who he visited on or about same time he visited Pakistan and…
Claims being made that he went to mecca on the way to Pakistan-or some other time.
These blogs writing about this include links to sources …
Many of us are researching information but we need help. Can someone please guide us on how to properly conduct this research OR help directly with the research (and include sources for all your info-including links to sources….)
Thank you very much-
http://noquarterusa.net/blog/2008/08/09/obamas-impending-pearl-harbor/#m...
http://forums.gunboards.com/showpost.php?p=396421&postcount=1
http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/pol/790010787.html
17 weeks 4 days ago
"Sen Obama went to Pakistan while in college, and has questionable associations with ‘shady’ characters in Hyderabad India-who he visited on or about same time he visited Pakistan and…"
Fellow bloggers-my apologies-I misspoke- The 'shady characters' I refer to above are located in Hyderabad PAKISTAN....NOT ... Hyderabad INDIA-which I wrote above.
My apologies for any confusion my error may have caused.
17 weeks 4 days ago
Fellow bloggers,
I just came across another article (Mostly about Sen Obama & Brzenzski) that refers to Saul Alinsky .
I never knew about Mr Alinsky until I read Mr Maki's article here on windycity.com.
Readers...Please review this link. Please check to confirm or refute ANY info in entire article contains. This is important...If information is correct-we need to disseminate facts. if ANY information is wrong-we need to expose this quickly.
"His (Sen Obama) pedigree is first of all the Ford Foundation. The Ford Foundation is of course the institution which more than any other, tries to maintain the existing social order in the United States , which is to say: The dominance over this society by Wall Street, by financier oligarchs and the super rich. So his mother, Stanley Ann Dunham - he had a mother named Stanley which is interesting in itself – his mother was a pro-communist who worked for the Ford Foundation. She was part of the gender equality program of the Ford Foundation. She also worked then for the Word Bank and the US Agency for International Development.
Obama himself has worked for the Gamaliel Foundation. This is a counter insurgency operation.
It is the Saul Alinsky community organizing foundation of Chicago and the Gamaliel Foundation is a satellite of the Ford Foundation.
And the idea with them is organizing community control projects, autogestion, local control on a very very local basis , always with the idea of pitting white against black, against Hispanic, against Asian, against Korean or Chinese or whatever it is, always keeping the population fragmented. On the lowest possible level, very parochial, very local and not allowing therefore a challenge to Wall Street to emerge."
http://www.deepjournal.com/p/7/a/en/1497.html
17 weeks 3 hours ago
Thank you for an informative article. More detial on Obama's 'organizer' experience and other aspects of his Chicago time can be found in Lizza's "The Unlikely Political Education of Barack Obama", a series of Chicago Tribune articles, etc, linked at http://www.ironmyvote.com/#obamabackground
I think there is more in the Lizza article in the New Yorker with the cartoon cover of the Obamas, and in a recent Boston Globe article about housing in his district.
17 weeks 2 hours ago
Flora S -
Thank you.
I will follow up on the information contained in the link you provide.
I would like to pass on these You Tube video links that I just ran across.
View the video's released on August 9th 2008 by the Sam J
Ervin Jr, (former chairman of Watergate commission) library and museum in Morgantown NC.
According to producers, the DNC (with the intentional/unintentional support of the MSM) has perpetuated a crime and fraud against the American voters by claiming Obama as the presumptive nominee.
Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lPCunsrI1Q
Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-Khsg8iKjU
Superdelegates votes can not count until convention
Part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXpz8AJk8TM
VERY IMPORTANT PART: Why Obama is not the presumptive nominee
These videos are very educational, interesting, and well-researched and documented. People are indeed repeating history. What is happening in 2008 has happened several times in the past. Educate your fellow voters. Forward these links to others.
And most important-we must continue to inform each other.
17 weeks 2 hours ago
Everything that Obama says is vague. His campaign calls for "CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN". What does that mean? And when he does commit himself to something like FISA, his word can't be believed. He is the least qualified person to run for the Presidency in the past 50 years. Without the super delegates and support of the DNC and other VIP's he never would have gotten off the ground.
17 weeks 2 hours ago
I wonder if some of the knowledgeable people here can tell me where the money came from for Obama's salary as a 'community organizer.' He was hired for the job by a Chicago church, but where did the church get the money to fund his job -- and why were they advertising in, iirc, newspapers on the East Coast read by Ivy League grads?
16 weeks 6 days ago
Flora S.
Thank you for the link above http://www.ironmyvote.com/#obamabackground
I am still in process of verifying information in articles contained in your link.
For now, the following article link which appeared in your source above
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1729524-2,00.html
helped answer one of my requests for confirmation of the fact that Sen Obama may have traveled to Pakistan while he was in college (because his mother worked there??? see more below) however just as one question gets answered, another one appears.
That same article mentions the following :
Acc to article Sen obama's mother met Sen Obama's father while they were both taking a
Russian language course
at University of Hawaii.
I do not recall reading anywhere that Sen Obama's mother worked in any Russian province or Russian organization? Am I missing something? Is article wrong?
Sen Obama's mother was very well-educated.
Acc to article she helped to build a microfinance program in Indonesia (heavy duty banking).
According to article, "Every so often, Sen Obama's mother would leave Indonesia to live in Hawaii—or New York or even, in the mid-1980s, Pakistan, for a microfinance job." She completed her Ph.D just before her death.
When I read this article it appeared to me that Sen Obama had a VERY close relationship with his mother yet he writes a book explaining his relationship with his father-and almost ignores his mother's existance except for some comments here and there? One might think that he did not want to attract attention to his mother. Why?
Am I reading this properly?
16 weeks 3 days ago
Read this article that I just ran across today -excellent example of the Saul Alinsky method of 'BRINGING PEOPLE TOGETHER" and "GETTING PEOPLE IN YOUR POCKET.
In this case it deals with what Sen Obama 'gave away' to get a pro-abortion group in his pocket...
P.S In the interest of full disclosure, I will state that I am pro-choice democrat.
"This saga reveals far too many disturbing problems about Mr. Obama’s character and decision-making abilities:
According to author,
(1) He took orders, supposedly, from a lobbying group without thinking through the ramifications;
Leaarn about what his 'orders' were and how he is trying to lie his way out of this but he can not...Many democrats are demanding to know why didnt the DNC vet him out properly from the beginning before supporting him? How ignorant do they think American voters are???
http://noquarterusa.net/blog/2008/08/18/finally-personal-vindication-but...
Read about the book that Sen Obama and his campaign DO NOT WANT YOU TO READ…Forget about the Corsi book distractions going on in the media. That is nothing compared to the serious lies that Sen Obama has been caught in.
The Case Against Barack Obama: The Unlikely Rise and Unexamined Agenda of the Media's Favorite Candidate (Hardcover)
by David Freddoso
This book is written by a SERIOUS, IMPARTIAL journalist who got his journalism training at Columbia University Journalism School . Book is THOROUGHLY DOCUMENTED with actual photos of source documents. THE MAIN STREAM MEDIA IS REFUSING TO COVER THIS STORY…
Fellow voters, if this book does not give you any indication as to the true value system of Sen Obama and HOW HE REACHES DECISIONS AND HOW HE HANDLES BIG MISTAKES…then…nothing will convince you of the truth…
An excerpt from article:
“In 2001, Senator Barack Obama was the only member of the Illinois senate to speak against a bill that would have recognized premature abortion survivors as “persons.” The bill was in response to a Chicago-area hospital that was leaving such babies to die. Obama voted “present” on the bill after denouncing it. It passed the state Senate but died in a state house committee.
In 2003, a similar bill came before Obama’s health committee. He voted against it. But this time, the legislation was slightly different. This latter version was identical to the federal Born-Alive Infants Protection Act, which by then had already passed the U.S. Senate unanimously (with a hearty endorsement even from abortion advocate Sen. Barbara Boxer) and had been signed into law by President Bush. …
Fredosso then addresses Sen. Obama’s immediate predicament:
Sen. Obama is currently misleading people about what he voted against, specifically claiming that the bill he voted against in his committee lacked “neutrality” language on Roe v. Wade. The bill did contain this language. He even participated in the unanimous vote to put it in.”
“At the end of last week, Obama gave an interview to CBN’s David Brody in which he repeated the false claim that the born-alive bills he worked, spoke, and voted against on this topic between 2001 and 2003 would have negatively affected Roe v. Wade. This has always been untrue, but, until last week, it appeared to be a debatable point that depended on one’s interpretation of the bill language. Every single version of the bill was neutral on Roe. Each one affected only babies already born, not ones in the womb. “
“What is worse is that Obama made this disastrous decision as late as 2003:
But in 2003, in the health committee which he chaired, Obama voted against a version of the bill that contained the specific “neutrality” language — redundant language affirming that the bill only applied to infants already born and granted no rights to the unborn. You can visit the Illinois legislature’s website here to see the language of the “Senate Amendment 1,” which was added in a unanimous 10-0 vote in the committee before Obama helped kill it. This is the so-called “neutrality clause” on Roe that everyone is talking about: …
Mr. Freddoso then provides the actual language of the state senate bill, as well as the TRUE history of eyewitnesses to the Illinois state senate deliberations.
See link below to Mr Freddoso’s entire article..
This saga reveals far too many disturbing problems about Mr. Obama’s character and decision-making abilities:
(1) He took orders, supposedly, from a lobbying group without thinking through the ramifications;
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZTBkYTYzZDNjNDgyMWJmMzMxYzljYjYxNmE...
16 weeks 1 day ago
Shout Out to Journalists, citizen journalists, bloggers-especially Chicago residents.
Read the following article discussing the following relationship- Annenberg, Ayers and Obama.
Author conducting investigation denied access to supposedly public records.
Author needs our help.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MTgwZTVmN2QyNzk2MmUxMzA5OTg0ODZlM2Y...
Stanley Kurtz from the National Review has been trying to get access to supposedly publicly available records from the Challenge housed at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
After several assurances that he could read the records, permission was withdrawn at the
last minute
If you agree, then please write to the president of the University of Illinois system, B. Joseph White. Ask him to take immediate public steps to insure the safety of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge records, to release the identity of the Collection’s donor, and above all to swiftly make the Collection available to me, and to the public at large. You can find an email link for White here.
PresidentWhite@uillinois.edu
Telephone, fax, and mailing addresses for White’s offices can be found here.
http://www.uillinois.edu/president/staff.cfm
Also, if you can suggest other ways to access this info, contact Mr Kurtz directly or post your suggestion on the two NoQuarter web links provided below.
More background on this can be found on these two links.
http://noquarterusa.net/blog/2008/08/19/more-attention-on-annenberg-ayer...
http://noquarterusa.net/blog/2008/08/19/annenberg-gate-its-not-the-crime...
Read about Stanley Kurtz-Source: Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Kurtz
Stanley Kurtz is an American public intellectual and social commentator who identifies with the conservative movement. He is an adjunct fellow of Hudson Institute, a fellow at the Hoover Institution, and a Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, with a special interest in America's "culture wars." Kurtz writes regularly for right-leaning publications such as National Review, Policy Review, the Weekly Standard, Wall Street Journal, and Commentary. [1] [2] Kurtz graduated from Haverford College and holds a Ph.D. in social anthropology from Harvard University. He did his field work in India and has published extensively on family life, child rearing, religion, and psychology in various parts of the world. [3]
16 weeks 1 day ago
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26309921
MSNBC has picked up this "No access" story
16 weeks 9 hours ago
URGENT SHOUT OUT - PLEASE READ-& CONFIRM OR REFUTE.
Journalists, Citizen Journalists, Bloggers...
THIS NEEDS TO BE INVESTIGATED ASAP
http://georgiaunfiltered.blogspot.com/2008/08/attorney-general-tells-ga-...
Attorney General Tells GA Delegates They Can't Switch Their Vote At The Convention
IS THIS TRUE???? A political blogger has confirmed with two members of the state's Democratic National Convention delegation that Attorney General Thurbert Baker sent them a letter informing them that they could not switch their votes…
IS THIS GOING ON IN OTHER STATES? HOW WELL INFORMED OF THE PROCESS ARE DELEGATES?????
View the video's released on August 9th 2008 by the Sam J
Ervin Jr, former chairman of Watergate commission, library and museum in Morgantown NC. According to producers, the DNC (with the support of the MSM) has perpetuated a crime and fraud against the American voters by claiming Obama as the presumptive nominee.
Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch...
Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch...
Superdelegates votes can not count until convention
Part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch...
*VERY IMPORTANT PART: Why Obama is not the presumptive nominee
- these videos are very educational, interesting, and well-researched and documented. People are indeed repeating history. What is happening in 2008 has happened several times in the past. Educate your fellow voters. Forward these links to others.
http://www.lynettelong.com/caucusfraud/
This is excellent site too
15 weeks 5 days ago
I like Joe Biden – very much however I will not vote for Sen Obama for president.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDVUPqoowf8
Listen to what Sen Biden said about Sen Obama PUBLICLY up until a few weeks ago.
The trait I admire(d) most about Sen Biden is his willingness to speak his mind.
Sen Biden…what has happened in the last couple of weeks that changed your mind about Sen Obama? Has Sen Obama gotten you in his pocket too?
America's welfare always comes first in my choices.
There is no way I could ever vote for a person that I know so little about-and to make matters worse...
what I do know about him really frightens me with regards to trusting him (Sen Obama) and his entourage taking over our US govt...
http://www.barackbook.com/
Obama facebook
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXXr9oLd9S4
http://www.nextgenerationcorp.com/NextGenBlog/?p=43#comments
Philip J. Berg, Esq. Files Federal Lawsuit Requesting Obama Be Removed as a Candidate as he does not meet the Qualifications for President.
There is evidence that Sen Obama may hold dual citizenship- among other things…According to our constitution, a person holding dual citizenship can NOT run for US president.
Several influential blogs are carrying this story but no one in the main stream media is discussing…why?
The public’s attention is being hijacked. This is a legitimate lawsuit –well grounded…
Do you see why I am not so excited about the VP choice…especially the timing of the announcement…
We are witnessing a NEWS BLACKOUT on the lawsuit…
http://www.votenader.org/issues/
Learn more about Ralph Nader & Matt Gonzalez, Ron Paul, Cynthia McKinney, Barr etc...
America needs a viable and strong third party.
Many of my friends who supported Sen Clinton are
now going to vote for Sen McCain-because they trust his integrity although they may disagree on many of his positions. They trust in the fact that he will always put our country first before any ‘loyalties’ to questionable characters. We know where his loyalty is.
Also,
Nader's loyalty to US is unquestionable...
His intellect is very impressive. Many of us seek to emulate his fortitude (in supporting his beliefs and value systems ) in our own daily lives when it comes to our personal beliefs...
15 weeks 5 days ago
Sorry fellow bloggers-someone just informed me the 3 links I posted above do not work so I am reposting...
Does everything in this campaign look okay to
you???
View the video's released on August 9th 2008 by the Sam J
Ervin Jr, former chairman of Watergate commission, library and museum in Morgantown NC. According to producers, the DNC (with the support of the MSM) has perpetuated a crime and fraud against the American voters by claiming Obama as the presumptive nominee.
Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lPCunsrI1Q
Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-Khsg8iKjU
Superdelegates votes can not count until convention
Part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXpz8AJk8TM
*VERY IMPORTANT PART: Why Obama is not the presumptive nominee
- these videos are very educational, interesting, and well-researched and documented. People are indeed repeating history. What is happening in 2008 has happened several times in the past. Educate your fellow voters. Forward these links to others.
http://www.lynettelong.com/caucusfraud/
This is excellent site too...
15 weeks 4 days ago
In my efforts to try and understand Saul Alinsky, Ford Foundation, Gamaliel Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation and the US media blackout, I ran across this article which I think demands further intellectual scrutiny...
Read this EXCELLENT article describing the Soros power as it relates to the media…People are afraid of Murdoch’s control of the media? Why? At least Murdoch does it out in the open. Take a look at how much power George Soros has over the non profit information sources. Perhaps this is one (of many) causes of the media blackout on important news items?
The Soros Media “Empire” The Power of Philanthropy to Engineer Consent By Michael Barker
http://www.swans.com/library/art14/barker02.html
This article holds up with regards to being unbiased and thoroughly documented...
14 weeks 2 days ago
Thank you for your article on the history of "community organizers".
The first thing that comes to mind after reading your article is that Chicago community organizers are a mix of the A.C.L.U. and Al Capone while getting rich in the process.
Why is this legal?
14 weeks 19 hours ago
I really enjoyed the article and the comments until the site was taken over by athy. While I may even agree with some of athy's comments, I won't read them all or research them because I believe it is rude to take over a blogspace so blatantly.
6 weeks 12 hours ago
ya, having a few words to say is one thing, but enough with the shameless self promotion already!
Great read though! thanks
14 weeks 10 hours ago
Neal,
Thanks for your comments above and sharing with readers your opinion. This is what free speech is all about.
The author of this excellent article is Mr John Maki.
I am a blogger.
You can write your comments about the article since that is the topic of discussion.
You do not have to respond to my comments.
Mr Maki's article was so well-written and thought-provoking for me- which is what a good journalist is supposed to do when writing for his/her readers- that my research went on a tangent and a 'whole new area' of inquiry was presented to me . You can say that, thanks to this article, I had a shift in my paradigm.
My knowledge base has expanded.
You can, according to blogging etiquette , of course ignore, agree or refute my comments.
That is what public discourse is all about. Free speech.
The greatest dis-service you can do to Mr Maki's efforts is to refrain from commenting about his article because of my comments.
Please do not try to promote any 'chilling' effects in public discourse.
We have enough of that already in our society.
Thanks.
14 weeks 9 hours ago
So the communities that Obama "organized" are all full of power and organization now? What did Obama actually achieve? What were the results? I notice the article is utterly devoid of any facts about that. What Chicago machine pols were forced to change their ways because of power that Obama taught "the little people" to use? I have heard zilch, nada, nothing about that - because O is just another Chicago machine politician.
13 weeks 6 days ago
What a way to misrepresent what Obama did. Has it occurred to you that there are different types of community organizations that do not all adhere to the same tactics that you are pointing to e.g."bare-knuckles…"??
He worked with FAITH-BASED (Christian I might add, not Muslim!) community organizations.
http://www.dcpincorp.org/index.html
The types he worked with are VERY different than the ones you are talking about.
You did not even say the name of the group he was involved with! Why? Because then a very different picture appears which demolishes your entire article.
“Developing Communities Project (DCP), the largest church-based community-organizing agency on Chicago's far south side began in 1984 as a branch of the Calumet Community Religious Conference (CCRC).”
DCP Programs
Reading for Life Adult Literacy (RFL)
Reading for Life is an adult education program offering Adult Basic Education courses. Full-time staff and volunteers manage the program. The courses help prepare participants for continued education, job training and an enhanced quality of life. Group sessions and one-on-one tutoring are offered. All courses, tutoring and materials are free of charge.
ATOD Prevention
ATOD (Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs) is the focus of the prevention message that DCP brings to 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students in Greater Roseland schools. DCP's ATOD Prevention Specialist, trained in Botvin's and Allstars Programs, also instructs students in anger management, self-image, making healthy decisions, violence and media influence, coping with anxiety, communication and social skills, and conflict resolution. As part of its comprehensive school program, DCP organizes a Parent Conference and an ATOD Showcase each year.
Young Women's Leadership Development (YWLD)
This program provides a comprehensive support system for girls and young women. Emulating a similar project in San Francisco, YWLD offers guidance
in education, mental/physical health, leadership, self-esteem, and spiritual development. Emphasis is placed on creating a non-judgmental nurturing atmosphere in which young women may share experiences and learn from each other. The program is structured to provide a foundation for building life-long skills in the areas of parenting, community/political involvement, career development and economic empowerment.
13 weeks 6 days ago
yahyahyah,
thanks for this info.
From what I have read in the past (can someone please confirm or refute these facts)
the Developing Communities Project (DCP) AND the Calumet Community Religious Conference (CCRC) were built on the Alinsky model of community agitation,
This is where Sen Obama was getting his training on the use of the Alinsky Method...which would support, complement, reinforce , nurture a Chicago style bare knuckles-' they bring a knife you bring a gun' approach to community organizing and meeting community organization objectives...
What do we really know about these organizations other than what they post on their websites?
One way to find out more about these organizations (and any organizations for that matter) would be to follow the money, follow the careers of the members of the early organizers and the past and present members of the Board of Directors (official and unofficial)...
Thanks-
13 weeks 5 days ago
Here is more info on Sen Obama's community organizing and what that really meant...
Saul Alinsky philosophy? Followed exactly or greatly altered?
http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=a74fca23-f6ac-4736-9c78-f4163d...
More about Alinsky approach..& Obama's practice...
http://tnr.com/talkback.html?id=2e0a7836-b897-4155-864c-25e791ff0f50
What did Sen Obama accomplish? Was the approach wrong...or was Sen Obama just plain ineffective?
http://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index2.php?option=com_content&task=view...
13 weeks 5 days ago
yahyahyah,
can you please explain how effective the Developing Communities Project (DCP) AND the Calumet Community Religious Conference (CCRC) are?
Are they meeting their organizational mission statements? Who are they accountable to?
Who monitors the effectiveness of their programs?
I ask this because I am horrified by the following news reports about the rampant shootings that have gone on very recently-many of them having taken place in the geographic locations that are covered by these Chicago-based organizations you discuss and areas which Sen Obama was supposed to have helped out in????
This link provides a rough breakdown of the location of the Chicago-based shootings
http://cbs4denver.com/national/chicago.summer.shootings.2.810882.html
13 weeks 7 hours ago
I think you bring a brilliant perspective to what it means to be a community organizer. The ideas of Alinsky should not be kept inside the community organizing box, but rather inside the box of politics and I'm not just talking about how a politician amasses power through building allies but how the everyday person fulfills their ambitions by playing the same game.
As a student of political science I have always remembered the best definition for it but unfortunately not the person's name who said it-->
the study of political science is the study of power as far as who gets what, when, and how.
I find it ironic that during the RNC several speakers including Giuliani and Palin mocked community organizing as a trivial activity, yet at the same time they're all playing the same game of building allies and amassing power--> McCain with his selection of Palin is building allies with the social conservatives and trying to buy into the successful tactic of using "change" in his campaign whereas before he mocked Obama's lack of experience.
12 weeks 6 days ago
Sid,
you raise good points however when Sen Obama speaks about community organizing to the voters, he makes it appear as if he has worked in Soup kitchens.
If he told the voters what 'community organizing' really meant, then an astute voter using common sense might ask the next question: How effective was this community organizing approach-as you used it Sen Obama- in your district?
Let me see what results you and the organizations you were involved with accomplished- I may want to do what you did in Chicago- I may want to do same thing in my Anytown,USA."
He is intentionally misleading the voters so that the voters are not prompted to ask the million dollar follow up question- WHAT DID YOU ACCOMPLISH IN YOUR DISTRICT using this 'Alinsky' approach?
Sen Obama- I want to know where the $ 160 million went that Ayers and you received to help improve the Chicago education system . I want to know what was accomplished. Is this what you are planning to do to the education system throughout the US?
The Alinsky method definetely has many merits however- the bottom line is-in my opinion- the character and integrity and OBJECTIVES each individual practitioner has with regards to wanting to use this approach. WHAT IS THE LONG TERM OBJECTIVE that Sen Obama was trying to accomplish when he studied the Alinsky approach?
Please , if you get a moment, read my earlier posts on this thread. That is one of my many major concerns about Sen Obama. Also, when Sen Obama used this approach in Chicago it had no positive effect on the community. Take a look at how his district is today. The crime and poverty levels and housing problems are disproportionally higher than what the problems other urban centers are facing-all else being equal.
I am horrified by the following news reports about the rampant shootings that have gone on very recently-many of them having taken place in the geographic locations that are covered by these Chicago-based organizations you discuss and areas which Sen Obama was supposed to have helped out in????
Was his goal to improve the inner city condition or make it worse? If it was to improve the situation- he failed...miserably.
This link provides a rough breakdown of the location of the Chicago-based shootings
http://cbs4denver.com/national/chicago.summer.shootings.2.810882.html
I do not blame Mr Alinsky- or the Alinsky Approach- for any harm that Sen Obama and his group of close associates has done to his community.
5 weeks 6 days ago
I believe that Barrack Obama is the best candidate ever. I support his position and I hope that he will become our President.
2 weeks 3 days ago
Stanley Kurtz is an American public intellectual and social commentator who identifies with the conservative movement. He is an adjunct fellow of Hudson Institute, a fellow at the Hoover Institution, and a Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, with a special interest in America's "culture wars." Kurtz writes regularly for right-leaning publications such as National Review, Policy Review, the Weekly Standard, Wall Street Journal, and Commentary...
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