What Obama's community organizing experience really means

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Wednesday July 30, 2008 · 7:20 PM PDT

2008/07/30 · 19:20

This is an article I wrote for a Chicago-based news and commentary website--The Windy Citizen. I thought it might be interesting to you all.

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."
-Barack Obama

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?

maki

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Wednesday March 26, 2008 · 12:46 PM PDT

2008/03/26 · 12:46

Hillary has just passed the extortionist in chief threshold. (You'll have to ask Obama whether he has.)

maki

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Friday March 21, 2008 · 9:07 AM PDT

2008/03/21 · 09:07

Like many of my fellow white brothers and sisters, I have struggled with this realization for a long time. It is painful, and I wish I weren't so. But it's time to face facts. From Mitt Romney to tube socks, from the SATs to slavery--we are the root of all that sucks in this world.

That's why I support Barack Obama--because this suckiness must end, and let's admit the truth, for the sake of our pale children and grandchildren, we cannot afford four more years of honky rule.

And that's also why I was at first overjoyed to hear an interview Barack Obama, when he said his grandmother was "a typical white person."

What a beautiful thought: if all white people were like Barack Obama's grandmother!

maki

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Thursday March 20, 2008 · 8:48 AM PDT

2008/03/20 · 08:48

I was brought up to love this country, but the last seven years has placed a seed of cynicism in my heart.

It's not just the horror of the Bush administration that has made me feel this way.

Watching the Democratic party repeatedly submit to Bush's tyrannical agenda, I had begun to suspect that American democracy itself was only a pretense the powerful used to cover their tracks as they build an empire on the backs of the people.

As the 2008 presidential elections approach, I was hopeful not so much for a change in politics, as I was for a change in scenery. It's one thing to live in a farce--it's another thing to be constantly reminded of it.

maki

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Monday March 17, 2008 · 12:58 PM PDT

2008/03/17 · 12:58

In a speech today at George Washington University, Hillary tried to present herself as the most capable, trustworthy option to lead the U.S. out of Iraq.

"The American people," Hillary told her audience, "don't have to guess whether I'm ready to lead or whether I understand the realities on the ground in Iraq or whether I'd be too dependent on advisers to help me determine the right way forward."

She's right. The American people won't have to guess about those things because her vote to authorize the Iraq War tells them everything they need to know.

maki

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Monday March 10, 2008 · 7:25 PM PDT

2008/03/10 · 19:25

I was shocked and deeply disappointed when I read about Elliot Spitzer's involvement in a prostitution ring. I thought he was one of our best, and I had hopes of supporting him for president in the not-too-distant future.

However, I am almost as shocked and disappointed by how many people in the blogosphere seem to think that purchasing sex is simply a private, venial matter.

maki

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday March 07, 2008 · 2:13 PM PST

2008/03/07 · 14:13

Al Gore we need you. This Clinton party-fratricide has got to end. It’s time for you to give your support to Barack Obama if for no other reason than because Hillary Clinton’s despicable, Bush-Rove behavior has disqualified her to have any legitimate claim to be a Democrat and a champion of progressive values.

maki

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday March 06, 2008 · 7:28 PM PST

2008/03/06 · 19:28

There is a method, and Obama adviser Samantha Powers unwittingly just showed how it works.

RSS

What Obama's community organizing experience really means

Hillary Clinton: extortionist in chief

An open letter to all white people--we suck

Obama's candidacy makes me proud to be an American, but ashamed to be a Democrat

Remember when you voted to authorize the Iraq War? That was awesome.

Prostitution PSA--progressive should stand against the sex trade

An open letter to Al Gore

Has the Clinton campaign gone bat sh*t crazy, or is there a method to their madness?