Your vacation photos
Lakota East band in Hawaii
Spotted: Fit and Fun
Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2008 > September > 05 > Entry
Community Organizing Better than Small-town Mayoring
At the Republican convention, Rudy Giuliani and Sarah Palin disparaged Barack Obama’s work as a community organizer. They might now say that they didn’t mean to disparage the work itself, but to disparage it as a qualification for president, compared to being mayor of a small town. But it came off as sheer scorn, mockery, and it was widely reported that way. And the delegates seemed to eat it up, though sometimes what one sees and hears on television in the way of crowd responses can be misleading.
In truth, Barack Obama’s decision, upon finishing Harvard Law School, to be a community organizer, rather than take up life in a Republican law firm, was nothing in the world but admirable. He was putting his use of the law to work in behalf of a community on the south side of Chicago that had been hit by the closing of steel mills and that had had plenty of problems before that.
If you know that certain people hold such work in contempt, you have an insight into their political souls.
As for the comparison with being a small-town mayor, gimme a break. I’ve covered small town mayors on and off for decades. They are typically good people, volunteering for community service. But their work — generally pleasant, non-partisan, low-key and part-time — does not, in any teensy, tiny degree, prepare them to be president, notwithstanding the absurdly aggressive pretenses of apologists for the Palin selection.
Obama’s work — and what he learned about the problems facing distressed families and communities in these times — is incomparably more relevant to being president. And what he showed about himself was something special.
It’s absurd and a shame that any of this even needs to be said. It is so perfectly obvious. But partisanship pushes people to deny it.
Permalink | Comments (24) | Post your comment | Categories: National politics
Comments
By Coorayd
September 5, 2008 6:20 PM | Link to this
Marvin, you have out-partisaned even yourself. You do realize her comments were made after Obama’s campaign disparaged her as being a small town mayor upon learning of her as the pick for veep. And have you looked into the humble beginnings of Obama’s political life? He was less the ‘community organizer’ and more the ‘organized’ by the local political bosses of S. Chicago. He had a chance to reform the still prevalent ‘cronyism’ intrenched there, but he found it to his liking. When will the media truly vette this person? More has come forth in one week about Sarah Palin than in 4 years about Obama, but it isn’t for lack of ammunition. He has ties to some under the radar activist groups (ACORN)some of his star-struck voters might be interested in. Now, why don’t you tell Mayor McClin what you think about her teensy tiny little role as Mayor, compared to the great works achieved through mucking it up with political muscle mobs more interested in getting friends and relatives feeding off the public trough than helping poor out of work steel workers. You seem to letting Sarah get under your skin, like maybe Obama wasn’s such a great pick after all.By Bernadetta
September 5, 2008 8:38 PM | Link to this
Making fun of community activists only shows the ignorance of the Republican ticket. Our activist have helped many people throughout the years including homeless veterans who served in the Vietnam War but were not fortunate enough to have the resources to receive the help and assistance that Sentator McCain has enjoyed. Remember, those who laugh last laugh the hardest. When the truth about Governor Palin and Senator McCain is known, the Democrats will be laughing all the way to the White House.By John F
September 6, 2008 12:56 AM | Link to this
Sarah McCain is a crook even by Nixon standards. There was a time when I admired the Republican party, but that was while I was in grade school and the litany of infamy had not yet occurred. If you look at every Republican since Nixon, economically they have been disasters- major deficits (especially Mr. Reagan)and recessions (Regan, George Bush, and now Bush jr.) are their key highlights. Sad commentary of a sad party that abandoned it’s principles when Goldwater lost (the last true conservative).By Raoul
September 6, 2008 9:02 AM | Link to this
Who could argue with the virtues of community organizing? That’s not the point. The question is, does Obama’s body of work qualify him to be President? If Obama’s supporters would only be as curious about his connections to suspicious groups and his ties to political machine mobs in Chicago as they are about Sarah’s parenting skills, a true debate might occur. I hope the press will suspend it’s fascination about Sarah’s background and finally shine the light on Obama’s. That will provide some hope that media bias will not intrude on the election outcome.By Realwork
September 6, 2008 9:48 AM | Link to this
Being a community organizer is like being a Professional welfare recipient. Getting payed for nothing. “Organizers”, as in Union and other, have priced American people out of jobs and made most of its products inferior.By Patricia
September 6, 2008 10:00 AM | Link to this
“Certain people” apparently hold small town mayors, hockey moms, working women, and female governors in contempt. Obama attacked Palin first, belittling her work as a small town mayor, staying true to his previous distain for small town values:“You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And it’s not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.” I don’t cling to my faith, I embrace it. I don’t cling to my guns, I hold them steadily for protection, knowing it is a constitutional right that stands between me and evil murderers, rapists, and theives. Yesterday he said he was not going to be “bulllied”. I say, “man up” for God’s sake. Fight against the male you are competing with, and stop picking on Palin because you think she is weaker and more vulnerable. That has proven to be a mistake, BTW. You made this mess by overlooking Hillary for VP, and now you are paying for that decision. Another bad decision, like the ones you have made in your associations, your views on the troup surge, and would surely continue if elected president.By Lee
September 6, 2008 10:17 AM | Link to this
NOBama. Not really American. Probably a crypto-Muslim, coddles terrorists.Wants reparations for slavery. Picks a known plagarist for VP. If we white America dare criticize, be are racists. Big speech, arrogance, Hollywood elitists. I’ll cling to my religion and my guns in small town America. Mr. Obama- you are not welcome here.By Mike
September 6, 2008 11:24 AM | Link to this
I am a community organizer. Volunteer fire- fighters, Meals-on-Wheels volunteers, grandparents who read to elementary school students, sheriffs working to keep our kids off of drugs, grief counselors are community organizers. By making fun of community organizers, Mayor Guiliani and Governor Palin are belittling average Americans. American Heroes such as Paul Revere, Susan B. Anthony, Martin Luther King, Sojourner Truth, George Washington were (gasp, gasp), community organizers.By bob
September 6, 2008 11:49 AM | Link to this
Idont understand why Obama did not become a journalist when he came out of law school like 80% of the rest of the loyal democratics in the news media.By Rick
September 6, 2008 2:06 PM | Link to this
Pray tell me, Mr. Gottlieb, what exactly did Senator Obama do as a community organizer? What did he do to help people? Give speeches? Find them a job? Organize protests? Lobby government? How successful was he? Oh, and by the way, most law firms are neither Democrat or Republican. And of those that are, I venture to say the a goodly proportion are Democrat.By Martin Gottlieb
September 6, 2008 3:27 PM | Link to this
Two subjects. (1): A correction: Obama was a community organizer after college but before law school. (2) I was asked what he actually did as an organizer (not what Palin actually did as a mayor). He’s written a book covering that. Everything I know about the subject is in there. Rather than just accept his story, I’ll let the question go unanswered. At any rate, the subject is not a secret. It’s a tough, uphill job, where one has invent one’s own avenues of approach, rather than follow some accepted customs. I’ll let him make his own claims of success (so that his detractors can reject them).By TRS`
September 6, 2008 10:40 PM | Link to this
I quote the initial Obama campaign statement “Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency.” No mention that she served as Chair of the Alaska Oil Commission and is the current serving Governor of Alaska. Senator Obama was a community organizer, a law professor, a state senator and has about 180 in the Senate, a portion of which he has spent running for President. There is a 49-39 spread with Obama being considerered more qualified; but, he has been on the scene for 1.5 years; thus, I’m not so sure 10 points is all that bad. As a note, 51% feel the media treated her unfairly (Rasmussen) which also could contribute to that number. After all Martin, even you ignored her other experiences noted above so the Dems were able to get the focus on small town mayor rather than her total resume. I certainly think in total that Gov Palin’s experiences match up quite well with Senator Obama.By Savanation
September 7, 2008 12:41 PM | Link to this
” I certainly think in total that Gov Palin�s experiences match up quite well with Senator Obama.”(TRS) TRS also thinks that George Bush is totally competent. So much for TRS powers of thought. One statement you heard over and over during the Republican Convention was how Gov. Palin has more experience than Sen. Obama. TRS, being as he is, actually believed this. I assumed there was some hallucinogenic agent in the air in St. Paul, so instead of listening to TRS, I will set the matter straight. As a young college graduate, Sen. Obama could have written his own ticket on Wall Street or anywhere else in the country. Instead Sen. Obama worked for years helping poor people and people struggling to live on the South Side of Chicago, one of the toughest neighbors hoods in the nation and had great success. (This was the job Gov.Palin and Sen. McCain ridiculed at the convention. I guess they don’t give a s**t about the poor and the middle class) She was a parttime councilperson of a hamlet in Alaska and avid moose hunter. Sen. Obama returned to Harvard for his Law Degree. Rather than cashing in on that degree in the plush offices of a New York or Washington law firm, Sen. Obama fought for the poor and middle class as a successful State Senator in one of the biggest and most complex states in the country. She was a part time mayor of a hamlet in Alaska. Where, while fighting off recall initiatives and trying to ban books, she was immensely successful in grabbing earmarks for her village(which has now slipped her mind) and also busy supporting The Bridge to Nowhere(which she now lies about)). Sen. Obama was elected United States Senator of one of the biggest and most complex states in America and has been a proven leader in the Senate. She became governor of a state which has more mooses than people after her party couldn’t decide which corrupt candidate to back. She says she doesn�t know what the Vice President does and that she has not thought much about Iraq and that she loves to kill mooses. She graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism from the University of Idaho , after attending six colleges in four years. Sen. Obama has a bachelors, a masters and a Dr. of Laws degree from Harvard and has taught Constitution Law at the University of Chicago after being named Editor of the Harvard Law Review, the greatest honor a law student can have in the United States. She was runner up to Miss Alaska. I notice she did not win Miss Congeniality. And her own mother-in-law supports Obama. What exactly was McCain thinking, or was he, as usual, not thinking? I guess the same question could be asked of TRS.By Alec Baldwin
September 7, 2008 3:27 PM | Link to this
Marty, Marty, Marty, Obama’s two books were the only signficant accomplish post academically. He has no record of achievement in the state senate or national. Mayors and governor’s have executive experience, not legilative when they can show up, vote, or not vote (“I’m present”). I bet you weren’t questioning the experience of Edwards when he was picked as a VP candidate because of his “pretty boy” looks and JFK wanna be personification. Be honest, NObama chosen because he could speak well, was well educated, and could be made into an image the Ca. left wingers wanted. Ever notice how this man falls apart when on the stump in front of a few hundred people instead of an audience of thousands as if he were the lead singer of the Dave Mathews Band. Hillary was so right. His experience amounts to giving a nice speech at the Dem 2004 convention. All it takes to get Dem support is look and speak like John Kennedy, don’t worry about substance, Hollywood can give him an air brush. Ohio has the 10 highest taxes in the country, losing jobs, and there is and will be…no change unless its with McCain.By exalaskan
September 7, 2008 5:15 PM | Link to this
My concern in this election is who is more in touch with the needs of the nation as a whole? As a former Alaskan of many years, I know that many people there have always felt separate and apart from the lower 48. It’s a great place to move to in order to escape the continental United States. Most people who moved there during the years before and after statehood stayed because Alaska was the last frontier and thousands of miles away from the problems outside. Outside is a good word – it typifies the belief that many Alaskans have of being outside – apart from the rest of the states. It’s a place of isolation and extreme independence. Seceding from the Union has been a regular topic of conversation ever since Statehood in 1959. I think Alaskans are still living in a land of milk and honey where resources and nature and wildlife will never run out; where the state rakes in millions of dollars in oil revenue and gives it back to citizens who pay no state income tax; where there is a never ending supply of disassociation from the rest of the country. Do we want a person one heart beat away from the Presidency of the United States who doesn’t relate to the issues we have here? Is Palin qualified for the complex national and international duties of the highest offices of our country? If qualified means being in touch with the issues of the nation as a whole, I don’t think so!By Dave
September 7, 2008 6:17 PM | Link to this
Alec, Ask Senator Luger (R-IN) if their joint initiative on nuclear weapons was insignificant. And is there any reason for repeating “Marty, Marty, Marty” other than being snide?By Dana
September 7, 2008 7:25 PM | Link to this
I haven’t clue to what a “community organizer” does,rather no specific and vague in my opinion. It surely does not lend itself to being taken as a serious attribute for being President of the United States. I do know that Sarah Palin, perhaps was a small town mayor, she also was a big state Governor;and by the way, most people this country are from small towns. A number of past presidents have been Governors prior to be elected President. I can’t recall any off hand any that were professional community organizers prior to being president. You have to make decisions, have to run a budget and be in charge of the national guard. The decisions that spring from that position in no way mirror the complicated life of a “community organizer”. Barak Hussein Obama has not been in charge of anything, run any business, managed a state budget, signed a pay check. He really has not even put his name on any legislation after being in the senate for 2yrs. Barak Hussein Obama advocates nothing more then then socialism. He wants to redistribute wealth, the tax margins that come from the oil companies is modest, 7- 9%. The profits they generate go to mutual funds, stocks and the like that many mainstream people own. They are part of portfolios that retirement programs have bought into. The money does not just go to the “wealthy oil companies” it spreads down through our economy. Barak Hussein Obama and Joseph Biden are both behind the proverbial 8 ball when it comes to “real” qualifications for the Presidency. The real news is we are not in a recession,or depression, nor is the economy going to the dogs. We have for the most part, 5yrs., had unemployment be low 5.5% and at times in the 4% range. The media only wants to you think that things are going from bad to worse. That is the talking points of the democrats, negativity and more negativity,like the war, it is lost, we are losing. Well to those John Murtha, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi types, you all got it wrong, we are winning….in spite of you skewed idea the truth.By Mike Miller
September 7, 2008 10:35 PM | Link to this
Sarah Palin slaps the face of community activist. Wasn’t Jesus a community activist? Who was governor? Pilot? A heartbeat away from the White House… .Nothing changes… .By Head-fake
September 8, 2008 11:47 AM | Link to this
Obama ran on change in Washington, and chose a career politician tied to the union and lobbyists, Joe Biden. That dilutes his message. Neither Senators Biden nor Obama have executive experience, ie, span of control, budget, and life and death decisions (death penalty et al). California poll shows 47-47% there think either candidate can win. Its a state in play. John McCain epitomizes bipartison politics and a centralist position. Look at any Governor who is successful, including Dems, that position is crucial. Obama is on the fringe of the left wing with Joe Biden, they will face overwhelming gridlock if elected and the threat of rogue nations in a frenzy to test his resolve. Oprah can’t help in there.By Steve Speilberg
September 8, 2008 3:40 PM | Link to this
Dreamworks founders holding a private $28,000.00 plate dinner in LA mid September for the chosen one. Problem is Senator, Ohioans don’t want Tom Hanks aka Forest Gump, Alec Baldwin, and Barbara Streisand who we should vote for. Al Gore will be in a tux of course and Ms. Huffington will be wearing Armani. ad nauseum!By Marilyn Monroe
September 8, 2008 6:08 PM | Link to this
“Senator, I knew John Kennedy. He was a friend of mine. A dear friend as a matter of fact. Senator, you’re no John Kennedy, but a shell of “Dave” created by Dreamworks. Cox News, what a lousy publication. They don’t make $, but spread their urban liberialism throughout the small papers they own. It won’t work in Oakwood, Kettering, Germantown, Lebanon, Springboro, Springfiled, Oxford, and Elsewhere. Too many Antioch College grads working for your leftist print.By Ellen
September 8, 2008 9:03 PM | Link to this
I took a look at the Alaska Daily News, www.adn.com. It’s pretty interesting on Palin: according to government employees, Palin was not interested in hands on governing, only in burnishing her image, firing those who didn’t support her, and making a personal vendetta of those she couldn’t ie. elected state legislators. She’s now trying to stop, or at least slow, the investigation into the firing of a state official for not firing her brother in law. Take a look. Very very interesting.By Alice
September 9, 2008 10:33 AM | Link to this
I see the column certainly brought out all the right wing paranoid conspiracy theorist kooks afraid Hollywood and the media are coming to get us all. They demean anyone who isn’t like them as “hating America” and “socialist” when they don’t even know what the word means. Even worse, they stick their noses up at higher education and community service. I understand, they have a blip on the radar screen and get all worked up in a frenzy but the act the right has choreographed will wear off because unlike out-of-touch Dana, regular people don’t need facts and figures about how low unemployment is or how many jobs Bush has “created”. People feel it. They have lost their healthcare or had it go up in cost, they spend a good percentage of their paychecks on gas, and they know when they feel the hands of a company like DHL shut down a life they had built. As for the conspiracies and urban legends, they’ve been shoved down our throats for the last six months. NO ONE CARES about anything but their lives and their communities and our country.By Buckley
September 9, 2008 3:42 PM | Link to this
Alice in Wonderland- where do you get such rudimentary talking points, the state DNC. To DHL. Strickland did nothing. He did nothing when the AK steel workers were out of work and lost their wages attributed to poor union leadership. Strickland’s AG was pushed out of office, now in Youngstown, for ethic violations. Nancy Polosi and her Dem controlled friends in Congress have done nothing to reduce gas prices. The playbook talking points aren’t working Alice. No more. We’re out for the little guy. We’re going to avoid private investment of social security. We’ll do this, we’ll do that. Americans are not buying the balony. As John McCain stated, he’ll work for the people. The Dems use them once every four years during the election cycle, and then go back to making their $100M like Bill and Hillary and pandering to lobbyists. We get it Alice. Why the bounce for the Repubs over the Dems-because lack of authenticy is always flushed out with facts and integrity.