Thursday, September 04, 2008

BARACK OBAMA

No, Really, How Is a 'Community Organizer' Held Accountable?

Amazing to see the argument that "community organizers" all around America will rise up in defiance of Sarah Palin's speech.

Perhaps there are parts of the country where mothers hope their children will grow up to be community organizers. The only "community organizer" I knew growing up was Al Sharpton's work in New York City, and he seemed to define his job as going into a bad situation and making sure it got worse, sometimes to the point of murderous arson.

If our friends on the other side of the aisle really want to get into an argument about that... role (I hesitate to call it a job)... Isn't there something inherently undemocratic about self-appointed "community organizers?" For most community leaders — mayors, city or town councilmen, school board members, city or county attorneys and prosecutors, even sheriffs and judges in some jurisdictions... if they fail to perform, they can be voted out of office. They're subject to FOIA and sunshine laws, and local councils and boards have to make their decisions in public. They're accountable. Their meeting minutes and budgets are open to review by anyone.

Who the heck ever elected or appointed community organizers to their positions? By what metrics do they measure their success? To whom do they answer? Who removes them from their positions for insufficient results?

There are probably fine people who claim that title, but even by Obama's own description, he didn't accomplish much in his three years in that work. I don't doubt that when young Obama ventured to the South Side, he walked the streets with the best of intentions. But they're insufficient when contrasted with results. In fact there's a particular road that's paved with those intentions.

09/04 04:11 PMShare