The Need for Community Organizers: Not Everyone Can Afford to Buy Politicians
It was fascinating to see the top Republicans struggle with the concept of community organizers this week. After all, these people would never turn to a community organizer. When they have a problem they just call one of the politicians they own.
Suppose they own an oil company and want higher profits. They just call the Bush White House or their friends in Congress and ask for more tax breaks. Suppose they run Halliburton or Blackwater. They call over to the White House or their friends in Congress to get some sweetheart no-bid contracts. Do you think the top executives in major corporations have any use for a community organizer?
Those people who get upset by celebrities attacking hard-working and low-paid community organizers may want to sign the petition demanding an apology.
The list goes on. If you're an investment bank that is essentially bankrupt, you call over to the Fed and get special below market loans and a public guarantee to your creditors that they will cover their losses in the event you go under. There's nothing like a guarantee from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke to maintain confidence in your bank.
If you're a nuclear power company, you arrange for the boys and girls in Congress to have the government provide you insurance in the event that your plant causes a catastrophe. And, if you're just a regular old rich person who wants more money in the bank, you call over to Senator McCain and tell him that you want him to give you some big tax breaks.
None of these people could ever imagine getting help from a community organizer. The top Republicans live in a world where they already own top politicians who will jump to do their bidding. They can't even conceive of the situation of an ordinary homeowner who might need help in getting the city to fix their street, to close down a crack house, or to improve their neighborhood schools.
The Republicans have lobbyists who take care of these things for them. In the world where people can't remember how many homes they own, no one can imagine needing a community organizer to help them press their case with city hall. These people already own city hall. In McCain's world, real Americans own their members of Congress, the people who might need the help of a community organizer to press their case are just a bunch of whiners.
you got it..... it's called owning the levers of power.
September 5, 2008 4:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
I heard Palin speaking today in a town meeting in Wisconsin, once again making fun of Community Organizations. She is treading on very thin ice with this one, and creating a great deal of recentment among ordinary people who volunteer their time to help others. I personally am involved as a volunteer firefighter in my community, an American Red Cross Volunteer Lifeguard, and support efforts of the local foodbanks by setting up collection barrells in supermarkets and real estate offices. After all, what does she think that the PTA she was a member of is and does (community organization). Furthermore, community organizers are not directed by government mandate to perform the duties of an elected office, it is a deep personal choice and self conviction to help those who are less fortuanate than our selves. Sustained involvement in a community organization shows tremendous courage, committment to our country, and self initiative.
September 5, 2008 4:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
But it was Obama who denigrated her experience as a mayor, and completely ignored the fact that she was a governor. So is it unfair for her to then respond by questioning HIS experience and training? She never said there was anything wrong with being a 'community organizer', she simply questioned if that was adequate experience to be president, since he mocked her experience as mayor.
September 5, 2008 5:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
Citation, please? I think you'll find that many people have questioned her experience, but not Obama.
September 5, 2008 5:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Citation, please? I think you'll find that many people have questioned her experience, but not Obama.
September 5, 2008 5:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Citation, please? I think you'll find that many people have questioned her experience, but not Obama.
September 5, 2008 5:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obama directly did this when he referred to his campaign experience, with his staff of 2500 and 30 million monthly budget, and then talked about her only being a mayor with 50 employees and a 10 million annual budget. He completely skipped her Governor experience (where she overseas 25,000 employees and a 10 Billion budget) It was on AP day after her speech I think. You can probably find it on the DrudgeReport archives.
September 5, 2008 6:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Tit for Tat. Palin skipped Obama's experience as a civil rights lawyer, constitutional law professor, state legislator and US Senate. She focused on his 3 years of employment as a community organizer right out of college as if this was the ONLY experience he has had.
September 6, 2008 10:43 AM | Reply | Permalink
Except that Obama did it first, she responded, and then he got all upset. He ignored the fact she was a governor and talked about his great experience running his campaign. As far as community service, She, John, and Cindy have done far more for far longer. Obama's 'service' was to pad his resume and pave the way for a political career. Cindy was in Rwanda and Bangladesh 20 years ago, Palin started as a PTA leader, so don't give me that crap about Republicans not valuing service. It's just that Obama doesn't have much else on his resume and he acts like he's this seasoned veteran,when he is just a rookie.
September 6, 2008 11:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
the Clever,
Obama did what first? He uttered the comments YOU interpreted as denigrating?
The comments he used were no more than a comparison of each's record.
A typical right wing tactic is to purposely misinterpreet somethng the opposition says then attack your misinterpretation. Neat.
September 6, 2008 1:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
theClever,
The only comments I know of by Obama concerning Palin were either benign or complimentary.
September 5, 2008 7:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
theClever,
the thing is, Obama didn't denigrate her service as Mayor or anything else, but that's exactly what she did, denigrated his service as a community organizer.
September 5, 2008 7:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree, JohnW1141. How is it that drawing a comparison and attacking have become indistiguishable in this exchange about Palin's vs. Obama's resumes? If Obama simply contrasts the staffs and budgets of his campaign and her mayoral tenure, it is a juxtaposition of facts. If Palin had made her retort about "Actual responsibilities" without the venom and scorn dripping sarcastically, to an audience that didn't hoot and holler in a similarly scornful mean-spirited way, her retort might also have qualified as a simple contrast.
What ever happened to Bush senior's "Thousand Points of Light"? What is the Republicans' stance on people who volunteer their time and energy to helping those less fortunate? If we look at the McCain-Palin ticket it seems they think volunteering is something you do if you're too stupid or lack ambition to do anything else. They seem to believe that there is nothing to be learned by going to the poor and needy and helping them get what they need. I know from my own volunteer experiences and affiliations with community organizations that this work taught me more about people who are different from me and gave me skills and insights that you can't get anywhere else.
I have worked for the Boy Scouts of America, I have volunteered at rape crisis centers and domestic violence hotlines, I have tutored children from the inner city of Memphis. My husband has volunteered at clean-needle exchange programs for addicts, at health clinics and health information fairs. There is a whole world out there that people like Palin apparently care nothing about when they deride Obama's community organizing work and sarcastically suggest that it adds nothing to his ability to lead this nation in solving its many serious problems.
September 6, 2008 10:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
CleverBulldog, the comparison between Sarah Palin's service as the mayor of Wasilla and Barack Obama's work as a community organizer is, to be frank, nothing but CleverBullshit. During the years in which Palin was mayor of Wasilla (1996-2002), Obama was NOT a community organizer, but a State Senator in the 13th District of Illinois (1997-2004). And what was Sarah Heath Palin doing while Barack Obama was working as an organizer for the Developing Communities Project (a faith-based organization working to increase literacy and decrease drug and alcohol abuse in working class communities laid low by steel plant closures) from 1985 to 1988? Reading sports scores off a teleprompter on KTUU-TV in Anchorage. (google it) Today, she's gotten better at reading the teleprompter than she was back then, but she's still not know what a community organizer or, by her own admission, what a "VeePee" even DOES.
September 7, 2008 5:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
CleverBulldog, the comparison between Sarah Palin's service as the mayor of Wasilla and Barack Obama's work as a community organizer is, to be frank, nothing but CleverBullshit. During the years in which Palin was mayor of Wasilla (1996-2002), Obama was NOT a community organizer, but a State Senator in the 13th District of Illinois (1997-2004). And what was Sarah Heath Palin doing while Barack Obama was working as an organizer for the Developing Communities Project (a faith-based organization working to increase literacy and decrease drug and alcohol abuse in working class communities laid low by steel plant closures) from 1985 to 1988? Reading sports scores off a teleprompter on KTUU-TV in Anchorage. (google it) Today, she's gotten better at reading the teleprompter than she was back then, but she still not sure what a community organizer or, by her own admission, what a "VeePee" even DOES.
September 7, 2008 5:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
I noticed a quotation of McCain's friend Robert Woods Johnson IV (of the Johnson and Johnson Johnsons), who insisted that John is a great guy. From the New York Times:
'Mr. Johnson plays down the access he has, saying he is no different from anyone else.
“You can call the senator, too,” Mr. Johnson said.'
Fits right in with your argument: some can call the Senator. Others call a community organizer!
September 5, 2008 4:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Aren't faith-based community organizations exactly what the republicans think should be handling all social services?
It seems to me that this reveals the fundamental hypocrisy at the core of the modern republican party. They don't want the government giving a helping hand to anyone, but they don't really want any private organizations to do it either. Seems to me that this would be a very effective line of attack for the DNC. Contrast some stories of people who've been helped by these types of organizations with footage of Giuliani and Palin making fun of community organizers - then a brief bit about Obama's putting off law school to work in the community. It would present a very clear difference that the majority of Americans could understand and get behind.
September 5, 2008 4:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah. I thought that these right-wingers were all supposed to be in favor of non-governmental organizations--you know, instead of having real health insurance for everyone, voluntary organizations would take care of the problem. Wasn't that a big part of Newt's program in the 90s, along with advocating for the innovation that was beach volleyball.
September 5, 2008 5:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Citation, please? I think you'll find that many people have questioned her experience, but not Obama.
September 5, 2008 5:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Here it is, enjoy:
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/09/01/obama-defends-natural-disaster-experience/
September 5, 2008 6:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
This was after she criticized him. You made it sound as though she went after him first. Plus he was asked by a reporter to respond.
September 5, 2008 6:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
You made it sound as though he went after her first. Simply not true.
September 5, 2008 6:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Check the dates. Obama spoke on Sept 2, Palin's speech was on the 3rd. So, as usual, Obamabots are wrong again.
September 6, 2008 11:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
“My understanding is that Gov. Palin’s town, Wassilla, has I think 50 employees. We've got 2500 in this campaign. I think their budget is maybe 12 million dollars a year – we have a budget of about three times that just for the month,” Obama responded.
"Our ability to manage large systems and to execute I think has been made clear over the past couple of years and certainly in terms of the legislation I’ve passed in the past couple of years, post-Katrina.”
So, by your definition Obama "denigrated" and "mocked" Palin with these comments?
I disagree. I think those terms apply more accurately to the sarcastic tone that Palin projects.
-- ARG
September 5, 2008 6:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Palin has a delightful case of terminal foot-in-mouth disease. I'm looking forward to her press conferences.
September 5, 2008 7:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ingoman,
Its being reported that the McCain gang is going to keep her incommunicado 'ala Cheney's bunker' for a time. It will be interesting to see how hard the questions are when she gives her first news conference
September 5, 2008 8:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
I have no doubt that the questions will be difficult ones: Who styled your hair? Do you shop at Macy's? Where can I get glasses like that? How wonderful is McCain? I understand he is an ex POW, is that right? How is that beautiful baby doing? etc.
September 5, 2008 9:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
We ought to organize demonstrations to demand that Sarah Palin make herself available for some serious interviews with major (non fox) outlets.
September 6, 2008 4:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
Did you notice the anecdotal Americans to whom McCain shouted out? It wasn't people who lost their home, it was a family who lost money on their real estate investments. Very telling.
September 6, 2008 5:14 AM | Reply | Permalink
Great, after accusing the press of attacking her, they are hiding her from the attacking press. If she is so smart, so pitbull-like, so all-she's-cracked-up-to-be, why is she being kept in seclusion? I really think this attacking the press for "attacking" her is absurd and I hope no one falls for it. The press is asking questions. That's what a press in a free society does. And the questions are intense for two reasons: 1) she is a new and unknown quantity on the national level and 2) she is apparently coming from a background that gives the lie to a lot of the claims being made about her. (For example: I would like to know how she squares abstinence-only with her daughter's situation. I too hope that when my children reach puberty that I can teach them to stay chaste until marriage Also, I would like to know how she reconciles the phrase "her love of the environment" --used in the RNC biography film -- with her cry to "Drill! Drill! Drill!" and her lack of interest in protecting such Alaska-iconic beasts as the polar bear. I am a hunter and a fisherman and usually I am proud of how hunting and fishing dollars go to conservation of habitat. . .)
I don't think that makes me an attacker of her beliefs and her pasttimes which I share to a certain extent. I think it shows I am curious to know how her beliefs and her life add up.
Have people forgotten that the press is the "fourth estate"? that its function, in addition to selling newspapers and drawing in viewers/advertiser dollars, is to inform and educate the citizens of a free society? So that their choices for elected office are choices made in a free, independent, non-coerced way? Again, I am struck by contradictions that smell a little hypocritical: if she is such a great and good thing for our country, why does the press not get full access to her so that we may all begin to see her goodness and greatness? Why should we have to take the McCain campaign's word for it?
September 6, 2008 10:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
Small town mayor and 20 months as governor of a tiny state COULD be enough experience to be veep I suppose- depending on the QUALITY of that experience...
Turns out that Palin screwed up pretty badly as mayor- going ahead with a project to build a sports facility without buying the land first. She could have had the land for $125K---but screwed around and allowed someone else to buy it and then hold the city hostage. Cost the city about $1.5 mm---that's a bundle if you only have 9,000 people in town...
She also hired a lobbyist to get more federal earmarks- those things she now claims to hate. She ran for office on the bridge to nowhere- another thing she now claims to hate..
Practice doesn't make perfect- PERFECT practice makes perfect- and this was far from perfect.
September 6, 2008 1:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Small town mayor and 20 months as governor of a tiny state COULD be enough experience to be veep I suppose- depending on the QUALITY of that experience...
Turns out that Palin screwed up pretty badly as mayor- going ahead with a project to build a sports facility without buying the land first. She could have had the land for $125K---but screwed around and allowed someone else to buy it and then hold the city hostage. Cost the city about $1.5 mm---that's a bundle if you only have 9,000 people in town...
She also hired a lobbyist to get more federal earmarks- those things she now claims to hate. She ran for office on the bridge to nowhere- another thing she now claims to hate..
Practice doesn't make perfect- PERFECT practice makes perfect- and this was far from perfect.
September 6, 2008 1:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Running scared.....
September 6, 2008 3:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
What's with this Gov. plane Palin put up on eBay, seems like she was dissembling about it. It now seems she did put it up, but it never sold on eBay, she eventually sold it privately at a 600K loss. She could have done the Lord's work if she had donated it to some community organizer.
If this is true both she AND McCain lied about it.
Am I playing the sexism card?
September 6, 2008 7:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
On NPR a guest, fact checking her speech , classified the plane / ebay statement as truthful since she had indeed posted it on ebay even tho that's not how the sale was made.
He was wrong . In the speech she said she decided not to keep the plane, paused and continued "I posted it on ebay". Clearly the juxtoposition of the two sentences was intended to mislead the audience. A lie.
As much as I am annoyed by that lie, something else bothers me more: it was a dumb lie which she knew, or should have known, would be rapidly uncovered .
That's worrying.
Either she's extraordinarily short sighted ,willing to sacrifice her reputation for honesty for the momentary gratification of audience applause ,or she was naive enough to think she could get away with it. Whichever, indifference to the consequences of your actions, is dangerous vice presidential trait..
September 7, 2008 5:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
flavius,
excellent points.
September 7, 2008 10:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
So, getting people to sign a petition is the best we can do to counter the despicable remarks from the GOP about community organizers?
Maybe I *should* be panicking.
September 8, 2008 3:14 AM | Reply | Permalink