Community organizer > what people think

The hypocrisy of the Republican National Convention is revolting.

Rudy Gulliani makes fun of Barack Obama earning a degree in an Ivy League school, and then how he worked as "only" a community organizer. And then Palin makes fun of Obama's perceived "elitism."

So what is more elitist? An Ivy League educated graduate taking his education and working in a community to try and make a difference organizing job training programs for unemployed steel workers, or a bunch of politicians in a convention making fun of community organizers?

How revealing it is, just what kind of political party the Republican Party has become, when they stoop to making fun of community organizers. These are people who combat unjust laws, organize regular people to fight corrupt government and hold political officials accountable, who work on a one on one basis to make a difference in someone's life. Where is the horrible travesty in that? Why are these people suddenly unworthy of public office or even our esteem?

Way to demean one of the more selfless public service jobs. Way to go for the Republican candidates to shoot a gaping hole in their own assertion that public and community service is admirable and important to the country. It's obvious that these traits are not important to Republicans - only prestige and title of office, because mayor is so much more important than someone who took the time to make a difference in their community. Senator is so much more important than the regular Joes out there who graduate from college and sacrifice what could have been a shoe-in high paying, prestigious job to work in the dangerous streets of Chicago in hopes that they can change the community for the better. If community service - selfless, sacrificing service - is not a viable reason to have the job as President of the United States, then so is in that same rationale of thinking, military service, which is just the same kind of selfless, sacrificing service community service is. Throw McCain's war vet credentials out of the window. They obviously, according to Republican logic, simply do not matter. It's obvious what really matters to Republicans, what really makes you qualified for the job - power and prestige.

So be happy with your titles and offices and supposed padded resumes. Just stop picking on community organizers. These people make a huge difference in peoples' lives and work long, grueling hours to help improve communities.

Does anybody who criticize Obama's "measly" job as a community organizer honestly even know what community organizers do? Shadow them for a while, watch what they have to do, and then I dare you to say that what they do is inconsequential for America's political wellbeing. How quick we are to say out loud with bitterness (yes, bitterness) in our voices of how we hate politicians, how we hate their corruption, and the lobbying and the vote buying and how they only serve the rich and Big Industry, but then vehemently denounce Obama's hefty experience as a community organizer, and assert that the politician offices of mayor and senator is somehow more important. If you truly believe that senators and mayors have more experience working the streets and working with people in producing results in a city, community or state than community organizers, that is fine, but then you really can't say that politicians are worthless, can you?

I was never an official community organizer, but I was a missionary for my church for two years. Along with teaching people about our church, we would work with congregations to help them grow and mature, teach workshops to people on how to stop smoking as well as workshops in helping people have stronger family relations, visit ailing senior citizens and the sick, bring food donations to poor families and provide community service on both a local and personal level. One of the first things we'd do when beginning to work in an area is knock on doors and get to know people, introduce ourselves to church leaders (who ran a lot of things in town in Oklahoma) and try to bridge friendships and relationships among religious organizations. And never, never, ever would I or any other Mormon who's been on a mission call it easy.

My sister worked in a clinic in Bolivia working to help Bolivians get health care. She worked desks, paperwork and whatever she could, and gave shots to children and adults alike, helping people out. It was never easy; her emails often detailed a lot of the hardships. And it wasn't very safe either - she got robbed several times, once at gunpoint. But she had a learning experience and matured a lot through her tenure there and not once, ever in a lifetime, would she call that experience easy.

I've met my share of community organizers, and the successful ones are charismatic, caring and pragmatic. They understand the realities of limited budgets, of lack of resources. They work with people constantly, and not just schmoozing for a vote, but building real relationships with different organizations and agencies to mobilize a community to become greater than the sum of its parts. They work with real people, knocking doors and talking to those hit by the real economic and social realities of poor urban or rural areas, not just lobbyists. They tend to have the real vision of what America really is like, not the ones they are told by their secretaries and aides in Washington, D.C.

A community organizer has much more bearing and experience in running a country and mobilizing people than almost any other government job. They have a much more accurate idea of what America is like and a greater vision of what America could become. And they know how to work. After all, how did Obama build up a vibrant, active political network across the entire country to beat the favored big time candidate in his own party and give the other party's candidate a run for his money?

Hint: It's not because he used to be a lobbyist turned senator.