GHWB was talking about old-fashioned community institutions: soup kitchens, battered women’s shelters, church groups, de Toqueveille’s barriers between the citizen and the state, Burke’s little platoons.

This is not the “community organizer” of the Barack Obama type. This is not NYPIRG, where he was trained in the ways of Saul Alinsky.

Obama’s brand of “community organizer” is, as people like Rudy well know from extensive direct experience, the vanguard of organized beggary, and men like Obama are but panhandlers in neckties. They do not organize private charity and spend their own bread; they exist to agitate for the transfer of taxpayer funds and the private property of others throgh the machinery of the state, to advance their Marxist view of institutional power. They exist, at least under the “community organizer” job description (no small-town minister or Salvation Army volunteer would claim such a title) almost exclusively in large cities. They are, in function, identical to lobbyists, differing only in the special interests for which they lobby and the method and amount of their compensation. They are everywhere the enemies of small government. Friends of liberty should not let them off the hook so easily.

Some do good; most live off the system in a way that perpetuates the status quo.

I concur on laying off the over-simplification of “community organizer” as it puts the focus back on Obama and allows the narrative to be written by the media about what he did there as one.

We must remember that sympathy runs deep in liberal hearts, as seen here and here.

Apart from Obama’s embellishments in his memoirs, does not the actual narrative reads as something that could have been done as easily by a hard-charging AmeriCorps volunteer?

During his three years of community organizing from 1985-88, Obama was not universally known in the community. During a reporter’s recent visit to the Altgeld Gardens housing projects where he’d worked, two longtime residents who were there during his tenure said they’d never heard of him until after he’d left organizing and entered politics. But he helped get asbestos removed from some of the public housing.

Some residents later became political supporters.

“Once we see you’re a good person, we’ll hold you up and stand with you,” said Linda Randle, who lived in public housing at Altgeld Gardens for many years, worked with Obama on the asbestos campaign and now keeps Obama signs in her windows. “I introduced him to as many folks as I knew.” She said his main legacy was giving some of the residents “feet to stand on and a higher voice than what they had.”

Today, however, Altgeld Gardens is plagued by violence, and many of the two-story brick structures are boarded up.

However, if his *results *were in anyway fruitless or lacking, then that should be brought to the fore, expounding upon Obama’s lack of leadership there. Some of this was touched on by the (oddly) LA Times, back in March and refreshed again here,

Between community organizations and community organizers.

Community organizers are typically unemployed Democratic activists advancing a socialist agenda.

As a qualification for being the president it needs to be degraded. And lets not forget that the media still wont call Palin the Governor of Alaska. She is still the Mayor of a small town.

Was it really necessary for the concern trolls to score a small victory by getting a front-page response story?

which is scary considering he views it as one of his best qualifactions to be President. He claims his biggest victory was getting abestos removed from the project he worked at which only ended up getting half done.

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/070826/3obama.htm

She is a true community organizer. Unlike Obama. She will stengthen this country. She is a woman of courage and dignity. She will take on the evil that is Roe v. Wade once and for all. She will keep harmful literature out of our public libraries. She will accomplish all the things that Bush promised us. How many times have we been let down by politicians promising us that they will truly govern by “God’s will”? She is the leader that we need. God bless you all! Fight with me!

I think that anyone who listened to McCain’s speech tonight or knew Palin was on the PTA would know she wasn’t against people being involved in their communities.

Community Organizer to me is little more than a PC-job title made to puff resumes.

http://www.windycitizen.com/2008/07/ask-a-community-organizer-what-is-community-organizing-anyway

I now understand that Chicago style “community organizing” is a conniving, devious way to say “local mafia”.

Here is the exact words of Palin:

Before I became governor of the great state of Alaska, I was mayor of my hometown. And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves. I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a “community organizer,” except that you have actual responsibilities.

Palin says what really a CO is and what it is not. She hit the nail on this. If a CO worker fails, no one will really put him/her accountable. A mayor is fully accountable in everything while working with the community.

I have seen CO works in several projects in developing countries sponsored by the USAID. Many CO works leave their beneficiary communities “confused” on what they should do next after the project. In addition, most CO works are project-based. If the project’s funds are fully consumed, the CO worker’s job also ends. Everything will end by a “project report” saying that the project goals are accomplished, with the sad truth…”no commitments for followups”.

“if we have suddenly decided that community organizing is something to be looked down upon …”

We haven’t. That’s just Obama spin. Obama is the one who was looking down on small towns — again.

Bayard Rustin’s job title was ‘community organizer.’ But if Rustin were running for President, he wouldn’t say “I was a community organizer.” He’d say, “I organized the historic March on Washington.” That’s a major achievement, not just a job title.

Obama was just angling for a political career. In New York City, it’s easy for an activist to meet the political elite. You want to meet a Deputy Mayor? Get involved in the Community Board, latch onto a hot button, you’ll be first-naming with chiefs of staff in no time. You do their job for them, let them take the credit, and now they know who you are (if that’s what you want). Activists don’t seek to cash in on their contacts. Not true for BO.

As a young activist, Hillary beat President Reagan in a cage match over legal services for the poor. What were Obama’s major achievements as an activist?

… and then I’m done. First, please avoid the over-quoting, OK? You gave us for paragraphs and you only really needed the last one to make your point. Padding your blog is sloppy, and you didn’t need to do it.

Second, “community organizations,” and “community organizing” of the sort that George H.W. Bush described are worthy activities for concerned citizens. But they are not “occupations.” They are not “job experience.” In this case, the term “community organizer” is a gauzy euphemism used to refer to Barack Obama’s work as a foot soldier in the Chicago Democratic machine.

Community organizers are like union featherbedding jobs. They are nothing more than federally paid (that’s right folks, we pay them) do nothings, that use their positions to garner power like a mafia don. So, it can be said that Hussein Obama has been on the federal dole for a very, very long time.

Think about it. Until she hit back, the Democrats were busy denigrating Gov. Palin’s years/experience as a small-town mayor.

And now that Obama’s “experience” as a “Community Organizer” got hit, all of a sudden, the Left (including their media wing) is having epileptic fits.

I think it’s because it was a clean hit. What positions prepares one more for the Presidency; being a Mayor or a “Community Organizer“, being a legislator for four years or being a state’s chief executive for two?

And that’s comparing the top of their ticket to the bottom of ours!

I’ll just post coming from some sites:

This is work I did three [sic] years ago They haven’t talked about the fact that I was a civil rights lawyer. They haven’t talked about the fact that I taught constitutional law. They haven’t talked about my work in the state legislature or the United States Senate. They’re talking about the three years of work that I did right out of college, as if I’m making the leap from 2 or 3 years out of college into the presidency.

It think this answer is nothing but a gaseous arrogance.

It’s about time to re-vet Obama and make a “public (not personal) discovery” of his credentials as CO worker. But who will do it?

community organizer job, but most “jobs” like that are nothing more than grant-funded sinecures for someone with a friend in higher places. In areas where a plant closes or some such and which have someone in Congress or the State Leg looking out for them, the state or US Dept. of Labor is often the vehicle. They’re often called impact funds or some such and ostensibly the “employee” is supposed to do “outreach” to displaced workers and direct them through the unemployment office to various retraining and aid programs.

The “Outreach” is often contracted to various non-profits that are set up to maintain Democrat control at the community level wether in office or out and which provide both a training ground for Democrat and union organizers and a sinecure for out of office Democrats.

This device is also how Democrats keep themselves out of trouble more readily than Republicans. A D officeholder can just funnel money to his ever so worthy non-profits out there doing good things. The non-profit can then employ his friends, family, squeeze, clients, whomever, at whatever he wants to pay them and they can dutifully kick the appropriate share back to him. Republicans foolishly just try to steal the money or give a contract to their brother in law.

Palins whole point was not to bash, make fun of or discourage volunteering or working in the community.. afterall that is how she got started, in the PTA. Obama and the media had said he did have excutive experience because he was a community oranizer and his running of his own campaign. I think the Dems got the point and are having to twist it to make it look like the “clinging to their God and guns” boo boo. The Dems are afraid. They continue to rely on polls, believing their candidate to have no chance at losing, however, we all remember the shock of the media and Kerry when the polls had been wrong along.We as God fearing Rebulicans should have the faith that God will let the right man win despite the lies and distorted views coming out of the media and the Obama camp!

…is a conduit for laundering public money into patronage funds and maintaining the Cook Co. Demo machine’s grip on power. Like ACORN using federal grants for “voter registration”.

Obama was a creature of that machine. By all means invite us to examine his work in detail.

…is a conduit for laundering public money into patronage funds and maintaining the Cook Co. Demo machine’s grip on power. Like ACORN using federal grants for “voter registration”.

Obama was a creature of that machine. By all means invite us to examine his work in detail.

People who work in community organizations have more specific titles. They’re advocates, volunteers, directors, etc.

And they’re usually specific about what they accomplished – and who they were working for.

Obama is not.

Community organizations in and of themselves are not praiseworthy. Neither are community organizers.

Neither are senators with 30 years of experience.

What matters is the substance of the work.

I mean, even Osama bin Laden is a community organizer. We wouldn’t praise Al Quaida now, would we?

Anyone who got the message of Tuesday night (“Service”) will understand the importance Republicans place on voluntary activity in the community. Anyone who watched the Cindy McCain bio/video last night can understand the humanitarian impulse that sent her to distant communities to make a difference, and to bring an individual into her own family to save a life.

On the other hand, we have Obama, who “got the asbestos removed” from some public housing. He did not “remove” it himself, nor “organize” and direct those who did, but “organized” the political pressure that brought about government action. Meanwhile his concept of “family” does not even extend to his half-brother.

There can be no better illustration of the contrast between Republican vs Democrat “activism” than the comparison of Cindy’s vs Barry’s actions.

Civic institutions have existed for centuries to perform “community organization.” This is not what Obama did or refers to. He has bastardized forever the term “community organizer” the way the gay community has bastardized forever the word “gay.” He has done the term irreparable harm and indeed is known as a “community activist” with no positive, related achievements to his name.

My knee-jerk reaction to the terms in any case, since they are only used in deep-blue communities, is that conservatives don’t need “community activism;” this is something reserved for victimization-obsessed lefties, feminist groups and race-baiting agitators to whip up support for high-tax anti-conservative schemes. Community activism and organization as practiced by liberals is just collectivism by other names. Conservatives reject the very concepts as now practiced. We may or may not join a lot of organizations but we treasure individuality, which is the antithesis of what now constitutes community activism and organization.

to think of community organizer as a charitable volunteer. A community organizer is a paid position to get something done for SOME ONE or SOME ORGANIZATION.

It’s NOT to reach out and uplift individuals.

Wasn’t comfortable with dismissing Community Organizers are irresponsible.

As Rod Patrick points out, they are sort of irresponsible. But only in the same way that all people involved in (even private) charities are irresponsible. When I donated my time to the American Cancer Society, no one punished me when I messed up.

That said, Community Organizers are not all saints. They do not always deserve the benefit of the doubt. We should really look closely at his track record. Found this article by way of Althouse. It points out how lousy Obama’s CO track record was.

ACORN?