The Obamistas and Righteologues share a key narrative agreement regarding Barack Obama's years as a community organizer. The fictional narrative works for both. On the left, his time in the trenches validates his claim to be a man of the people putting his values of community into action. On the right, his time as a CO proves his leftism and triggers the now standard litany/rant. All of this nets out as a plus plus for both sides. Never mind that both are indulging in seriously phony claims.
As Michael Gecan makes clear in his brilliant little book, After America's Midlife Crisis, Obama wasn't much influenced by the ethos or values of community organizing. After all, he spent less time in that role as a low level street worker than in college. The reality is that he was far more a creature of Chicago's Daley Machine politics and the rarified atmosphere of the University of Chicago's constitutional law environs.
The Righteologues trump up Obama's brief stint as a community organizer for their own demonizing purposes. Dragged in to this fiction is the falsification of Saul Alinsky's track record, organizational innovations and legacy.
As Michael Gecan makes clear in his brilliant little book, After America's Midlife Crisis, Obama wasn't much influenced by the ethos or values of community organizing. After all, he spent less time in that role as a low level street worker than in college. The reality is that he was far more a creature of Chicago's Daley Machine politics and the rarified atmosphere of the University of Chicago's constitutional law environs.
The Righteologues trump up Obama's brief stint as a community organizer for their own demonizing purposes. Dragged in to this fiction is the falsification of Saul Alinsky's track record, organizational innovations and legacy.
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