February 4, 2009 8:06 AM
Obama's leadership - read Alinsky, be prepared
Am I the only one who flinches when the President of the United States says things like "you guys" and "I screwed up"? I am longing for more dignity and integrity. Leaders should be noble.
Of course these are small potato issues compared to the gigantic stakes we are watching being gambled away.
What is really up with Obama constantly telling us what a terrible mess we're in and how it will take us forever to get out of it? Of course it will with the way he's going about it - but as someone who studies leadership and leaders, I just don't see the Henry V approach - or any other historical/mythic/cinematic examples we use to show men who led the people they served to victory.
My guess is that it's manipulation calculated to bring us to the point where completely depressed and hopeless - malleable enough to believe we can't possibly survive without His Obamaness. Meanwhile - in a strange twist from a party constantly accusing conservatives of pandering to the wealthy - the rich are getting richer.
Investor's Business Daily serves up this must-read piece about a must-read book:
Alinsky's Rules: Must Reading In Obama EraBy PHYLLIS SCHLAFLY | Posted Monday, February 02, 2009 4:20 PM PT
Immediately after the Democratic National Convention in Colorado, the Boston Globe published a letter from David Alinsky. He boasted about how Barack Obama had made effective use of his training in the methods of David's late father, the famous Chicago radical, Saul Alinsky.
David Alinsky gloated: "I am proud to see that my father's model for organizing is being applied successfully beyond local community organizing to affect the Democratic campaign in 2008. It is a fine tribute to Saul Alinsky as we approach his 100th birthday."
What was Saul Alinsky's model that Barack Obama used so successfully to defeat the Clinton machine plus the Republican Party in a dramatic one-two punch never before seen in politics?
What is known today as "the Alinsky ideology and Alinsky concepts of mass organization for power" are fully set forth in Alinsky's 1971 book, "Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals."
Alinsky's worldview was that mankind is divided into three parts: "the haves, the have-nots and the have-a-little, want mores." His purpose was to teach the have-nots how to take power and money away from the haves by creating mass organizations to seize power, and he admitted "this means revolution."
He wanted a radical change of America's social and economic structure, and he planned to achieve that through creating public discontent and moral confusion. Alinsky developed strategies to achieve power through mass organization, and organizing was his word for revolution.
He wanted to move the U.S. from capitalism to socialism, where the means of production would be owned by all the people (i.e., the government). A believer in economic determinism, he viewed unemployment, disease, crime and bigotry as byproducts of capitalism. "Change" was Alinsky's favorite word, used on page after page. "I will argue," he wrote, "that man's hopes lie in the acceptance of the great law of change."
Read entire article here.
Though I've read parts of Rules for Radicals, I've not read the entire book. I just ordered a copy for Tripp and me (none at Paperbackswap - but you can add to your wishlist there or check your library):
Posted in Obama Nation | Permalink
Comments
No, Barbara...you are not the only one who flinches when Obama speaks. I know that God allows leaders to be in charge, and I am vigilantly praying for myself as I face dealing with the next four years!
Posted by: mamosa | February 4, 2009 7:42 PM
