As you know, the Republican party bravely cast aside the massive community organizer vote this week. Some have questioned whether the serial shots that RNC speakers took at community organizing were fair. Since I've been sarcastically referring to Barack Obama as "the longtime community organizer" for several months, I feel uniquely positioned to answer this question.
Of course it's fair. And of course, as even the most obtuse lefties surely know, the community organizer barb isn't aimed at the vast population of hard-working and dedicated community organizers who are bravely organizing communities even as we speak. The barbs are aimed at Barack Obama himself.
As I've pointed out several times in the past couple of weeks, Obama's résumé shows a wealth of talent but a dearth of accomplishments. His community organizing time is particularly illustrative of his unimpressive record. Obama himself said in his biography that he couldn't really explain to his friends what he was doing when he was a community organizer. This isn't a problem that typically confronts policemen, firemen, tailors, schoolteachers or construction workers. Moreover, Obama accomplished virtually nothing while a community organizer. Indeed, according to the Boston Globe, the community he putatively organized was worse off for his ministrations.
Now, you could mock Obama's flimsy presidential qualifications and lack of accomplishments in regard to any of his career stops. To date, he's been a law school lecturer, a part time legislator, a junior associate at a small law firm and a part time lawyer. None of these things are particularly impressive for a guy with Obama's gifts. As someone seeking the presidency, his lack of professional distinction stands out even more. The only professional activity he has excelled at is office seeking.
But why pick on the community organizer thing? Because even more than Obama's other professional stops, it epitomizes the man's track record - grand sentiments married with minimal deeds. People hear the term "community organizer" and smirk because they know it's somehow dodgy. They assume, rightly so, that Obama's job as a community organizer was to serve as a freelance do-gooder. The job title's lack of specificity generates the giggles. There's a big difference between a community organizer and a labor organizer. To paraphrase Sarah Palin, one has actual responsibilities. Still, that said, if Obama had actually done any good as a community organizer I wouldn't be making fun of his experience in this post and I doubt other conservatives would be doing the same in other venues. But he didn't. As Bill Parcells might say, the record is what it is.
I'm sure there are some community organizers out there who have done great work. Well, I'm not sure but I am reasonably confident. Barack Obama wasn't one of them. And yet he has made his community organizing work a central talking point in his campaign as it purportedly illustrates the way he exists to serve his fellow man.
Why do we mock Barack Obama's experience as a community organizer? Because like so much of the grandiosity that surrounds the Obama personae, it is supremely mock-able.
