Photo credit: Fungible ConvictionsSarah Palin’s denigration of community organizers is the domestic equivalent of her getting a passport for the first time in her 40s—the first demonstrates how out of touch she is with mainstream America, just as the second highlights her unfitness for understanding the global world we live in.

Attempting to dismiss Sen. Barack Obama’s work as a community organizer in Chicago, Palin stated at the Republican National Convention:

Being a mayor is kinda like being a community organizer, only you have actual responsibilities.

What she didn’t count on—because she’s too narrow minded to have grasped it—is that she didn’t just insult Obama. She attacked the integrity of community organizers across the nation. And they’re speaking out. Letters to the editor and op-ed pieces protesting Palin’s remarks in print and online forums from Utah to Florida attest to the difficulties and challenges of community organizing. They also show Palin hit a chord among many people—but not the one she hoped.

I talked with Rick Powell the other night at our phone banks here at the AFL-CIO in Washington, D.C. (We’re phoning union members every day, every evening and every weekend, telling them why we support Obama. If you’re in D.C., stop by anytime to make some calls.)

Back in the late 1960s when he was in college in Greensboro, N.C., Powell volunteered as a community organizer, helping low-income tenants join together to improve their conditions. As part of the Greensboro Association for Poor People, Powell helped public housing tenants to create food co-ops so they could save money. He and other volunteers created a tenant committee to fight a slum landlord who wanted to increase rents without making critical improvements, like fixing plumbing or holes in ceilings. His work empowered the residents to challenge the status quo. Their challenge ultimately resulted in local and state legislation that gave some protection to tenants living in residences with massive housing code violations.

The people Powell organized were not aware they had rights—they thought they were powerless. But all that changed after they were organized, Powell says.

We empowered a segment of the population of Greensboro, N.C., that didn’t know they had any rights as tenants. Usually folks who go through that experience, you’re never able to intimidate them again. They are no longer victims and they will never be victims again in their lives.

Powell, now the political and legislative coordinator for the Metropolitan Washington Council, exemplifies real leadership.

In contrast, trashing community organizing is an expedient way out of real leadership responsibilities for the GOP. John Manrique at the Miami Sun-Sentinel hits it on the head when he writes:

By conveniently supporting individual and localized leadership on tough issues such as poverty, homelessness and social inequality, con-reformers like Gov. Palin can shirk responsibility and avoid the difficulties of working toward solutions under a guise of eliminating "big government interference." So sidestepping the issues with lip service, a laugh and condescending kick to the ribs of community organizers who rise each day to make a difference, Palin and company say, "You’re on your own!"

But the issue is much broader than the power-hungry top politicos. Manrique continues:

While the zingers and one-liners may have been crowd-pleasers, the real joke is what such comments reveal about today’s brand of Republican "compassionate conservatism."

[snip]

What does that, and the roaring applause it received, say about the value Palin and Republican leaders have for the tens of thousands of everyday Americans who selflessly work to support their neighbors, improve our communities and put country first? It indicates to me who the real elitists are, and how much their party truly "cares" for those who don’t have the word "executive" in their job title.

Deepak Bhargava at the Center for Community Change sums up why the skills and vision of community organizers are those that should inform any U.S. president.

Any president would do well to adhere to the community values, often rooted in religious faith, that inspire organizers. They believe that problems are best solved through cooperation, that every person is part of the American family and that no individual can do well while others are suffering. A president familiar with community organizing would seek out diverse views to formulate policy rooted in the realities of ordinary life. He would know how to build coalitions to overcome the entrenched interests that block progress.

Most important, a president with community organizing skills might engage ordinary Americans in the practice of democracy every day—not just at election time.

Engaging everyday Americans in the political process—sounds familiar. Like maybe one of the main reasons the founders of this nation declared independence?

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