Posted on 09/07/2008 10:46:06 PM PDT by FocusNexus
Even Obama didn't know when he first gave it a try back in 1985. "When classmates in college asked me just what it was that a community organizer did, I couldn't answer them directly," Obama wrote in his memoir, Dreams from My Father. "Instead, I'd pronounce on the need for change. Change in the White House, where Reagan and his minions were carrying on their dirty deeds. Change in the Congress, compliant and corrupt. Change in the mood of the country, manic and self-absorbed. Change won't come from the top, I would say. Change will come from a mobilized grass roots."
Community organizing is most identified with the left-wing Chicago activist Saul Alinsky (1909-72), who pretty much defined the profession. In his classic book, Rules for Radicals, Alinsky wrote that a successful organizer should be "an abrasive agent to rub raw the resentments of the people of the community; to fan latent hostilities of many of the people to the point of overt expressions." Once such hostilities were "whipped up to a fighting pitch," Alinsky continued, the organizer steered his group toward confrontation, in the form of picketing, demonstrating, and general hell-raising. At first, the organizer tackled small stuff, like demanding the repair of streetlights in a city park; later, when the group gained confidence, the organizer could take on bigger targets. But at all times, the organizer's goal was not to lead his people anywhere, but to encourage them to take action on their own behalf.
But on the other hand, Obama seemed to realize that it was very, very hard to get anything done. "He didn't see organizing making any significant changes in things," Jerry Kellman recalled.
"He was constantly thinking about his path to significance and power,"
(Excerpt) Read more at article.nationalreview.com ...
I may be alone in this, but since Palin’s speech, whenever I see or hear the words “community organizer”— I LAUGH! (This is the truth, btw.)
A community organizer (IL Senator) gets 100,000.00 for a cabana installation to a former contributor.
“where Reagan and his minions were carrying on their dirty deeds.”
Obama wrote this? That commie little punk was not worthy to scoop Reagan’s horses’ road apples.
You are definitely not alone. I laughed at it before Gov. Palin’s speech.
Your observation is shared by the other 40 Million viewers.
It seems that a community organizer is actively involved in manipulation through anger. Saul was unapologetic about this.
That Obama was very, very good at it should be broadcast out the nation.
They should know what has been done to them, how it was done, and why.
The McCain-Palin campaign hardly needs writers for their ads. All they have to do is quote BO, Slow Joe, Hillary, etc.
A community organizer is an aspiring politician who couldn’t convince his Congresscritter to hire him as an intern.
Same here. Spontaneous laughter.
BTW, yes, indeed, Obama did write that, I’ve seen it quoted numerous times.
I’m still wanting to find info on which steel factories on the south side of Chicago were closing down in the mid 1980s, or whenever Barry was “organizing” the laid-off workers.
I never knew Chicago was home to many steel mills. I thought that was Indiana.
In keep hearing that he worked for ACORN for part of the time. Does anyone have a link to a reliable source that confirms or refutes that?
Well, I stand slightly corrected. There were a few steel mills around Chicago, and the steel industry had its heyday in the early 1900s.
Yes, some plants closed in the 1980s...but from what I gathered, the steel industry in Chicago was on life support by 1980. There couldn’t have been too many still working in the mills. A quick Google shows about a dozen steel factories still in the Chicago area.
...anger, followed by vociferous confrontation/demonstrations, and doing everything possible to make sure the problems are not solved, just assuaged with money. The problem people must remain in place in order to perpetuate the agitation.
The other key component of the “Community Organizer”’s work was that the agitation that he caused was NOT for the benefit of the Rabble he had roused, it was manipulated to advance the Organizer’s political agenda.
In other words, the CO preyed on the discontent of others to turn them into “useful idiots” for his own advancement.
Even Greta was asking this very question (along with others) today on her blog and questioning where the media is investigating his background in Chicago.
She brought up the hundreds of reporters sent to Alaska to investigate Palin while no main stream media outlets have done the same.
You know it’s bad when even Greta is asking that question.
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