There's a great deal to be said about the connection of President Obama to the Alinsky organizing tradition. While he did attend IAF ten day training in the mid eighties and worked in Chicago at the street level for about three years with Gamaliel (an organizational network not directly affiliated with IAF), he didn't organize long enough to master the concepts or practice the craft to a high level. As my colleague Michael Gecan points out elsewhere, Obama was formed far more by the Hyde Park/Daley machine/constitutional law ethos than broad based community organizing. To my knowledge, as President, Obama has never sought out IAF organizers and organizations since his election. This is especially ironic in light of the fact that IAF affiliate GBIO was the key grassroots/institutional player in the Massachusett's health care legislation after which Obamacare was modeled. In many respects the Mass plan is superior.
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