Why Obama isn't Obambi
Fri Mar 09, 2007 at 02:47:01 PM PDT
There's a facinating new piece by Ryan Lizza of The New Republic out on Barack Obama's history of work as a community organizer in Chicago in the 1980's. I'm not a fan of the editorial page there, but Ryan Lizza has done consistently good and interesting in-depth profiles of candidates. This one's no different...it's a good read, although behind the firewall.
I'm sure many are familiar with Obama's organizer history...if you're not, read up on it...there's some links below. What was more interesting, is that Obama's "Obambi" reputation...above politics, let's not get down in the mud, untested in political battles...is largely bullshit.
While Obama is genuinely interested in making politics better and more responsive to ordinary folks, he knows how to play smackdown with the big boys...and win. Some choice examples below the jump.
For example, did you know that Obama played hardball when the Chicago machine tried to push him out of his first State Senate Race?
Obama initially planned to inherit the seat of a much-admired incumbent named Alice Palmer, a fixture in South Side activist circles since the '60s. Palmer had opted to run for Congress, clearing the way for Obama to replace her, but, when she lost the primary, she decided she wanted to keep her old Senate seat, after all.
Obama was faced with a decision: step aside and wait his turn or do everything he could to take down a popular incumbent. In one meeting, an old guard of black political leaders tried to force Obama to abandon the race, but he wouldn't budge. Instead of deferring to Palmer's seniority, Obama challenged the very legitimacy of her petitions to get on the ballot, dispatching aides to the Chicago Board of Elections to scour Palmer's filing papers, and, while they were at it, every other candidate's, signature by signature. Many were fake. Obama won the challenge and cleared not just Palmer but all his potential rivals from the field.
What did Obama learn about politics from episodes like this?
Speaking of what he learned as an organizer, Obama himself told me, "I think that oftentimes ordinary citizens are taught that decisions are made based on the public interest or grand principles, when, in fact, what really moves things is money and votes and power."
Doesn't sound like an idealistic campaign disarmament to me. Obama gets that it's about giving ordinary folks power to change what needs to change.
Here's my favorite paragraph:
The way that Obama and his team have responded to the opening skirmishes of the presidential race has also been telling. Every time Obama has been challenged this year, his campaign has responded with ferocity. When Fox News falsely reported that Obama attended a madrassa in Indonesia, his aides not only went into war-room mode, beating back the story--not that difficult, considering it was obviously untrue--but Robert Gibbs, Obama's communications director, also told Fox political reporter Carl Cameron that he wouldn't be allowed to travel on Obama's plane. What is Fox going to do to us, Gibbs asked Cameron, report that Obama attended a radical Islamic school? Oh, wait, you already did that!
Oh, snap!
Read the whole article. It's enlightening.
Some links:
Obama organizing background:
http://civic.uis.edu/...
http://www.chicagoreader.com/...
Ryan Lizza piece in TNR (subscription required):
http://www.tnr.com/...
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