Watching The Daily Show (which has been awesome this week) today in their coverage of Sarah Palin’s speech last night, I was reminded that I feel compelled to point out the following comments (transcript from NPR):
My fellow citizens, the American presidency is not supposed to be a journey of “personal discovery.” This world of threats and dangers is not just a community, and it doesn’t just need an organizer.
…
I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a “community organizer,” except that you have actual responsibilities.
Can’t we all agree that community organizers are generally good people, working for the good of their community? So why attack them, just because your opponent was one? Oh, and hey, perhaps you didn’t get the memo, but Tuesday’s theme at the convention was service.
Lest you think Sarah Palin is the only one with this problem, be assured that Guiliani piled on as well (quote from Political Punch):
“He worked as a community organizer,” Giuliani said, laughing, as the crowd mocked the very notion. “What? He worked — I said — I said, OK, OK, maybe this is the first problem on the resume.”
I agree. She is dumb and I hate that slut-whore-jezebel daughter of hers as well.
The issue is that he has 0 experience in making decisions. His voting record while Senator shows this. He could not make a decision on 130 votes, and decided to mark “Present”. Get your facts straight!! No one is saying that a comminuty organizer is an evil person. The issue comes down to experience. Obama has a resume a bit better that Al Sharpton…By the way, what is a community organizer???? Love to hear this reply!!
@God
Clearly you haven’t actually read anything I’ve read. And I’ve purposely avoided writing about her kids, for good reason.
@RD
Dramatic hyperbole does no good. Everyone has experience making decisions, especially those who’ve been elected officials for years.
What is a community organizer? The exact definition probably depends on the community and the group they’re working with, but in Obama’s case this meant working with a group of churches to develop job training programs (among other things) for the local community.
I don’t think they were saying community organizers were evil. I was pointing out that the sarcastic attitude toward this fundamentally service oriented positions seems awfully hypocritical given the previous focus on service.
And I’d argue that being out there actually working with the public prepares someone to be in politics in a vital way – it can help them understand the real conditions among the public. I don’t know if McCain or Palin have similar experience. It’s not just political positions that prepare you to serve the public, as we’re constantly reminded about McCain (POW) and Palin (hockey mom).