...Palin's disparagement of community organizing says a lot about her

marjorie says...

It's clear from Sarah Palin's speech last night that she doesn't know any community organizers, which says a lot about her as a mayor and a governor.

You know, folks in the community organizing world have noticed that Obama flies the organizing flag. The language of community organizing is sprinkled throughout his speeches, and he highlights his organizing experience front and center, rather than his time as president of the Harvard Law Review, or his years as a constitutional law professor.

Why does he think its an important thing to honor, while Palin disparages it?

I was pleased to see that, out of all Palins ad hominem attacks last night, Obama chose to respond to the belittling of community organizers in his campaign's personal email to me this morning. ;-)

Here's what David Plouffe told me:

...worst of all -- and this deserves to be noted -- they insulted the very idea that ordinary people have a role to play in our political process.

You know that despite what John McCain and his attack squad say, everyday people have the power to build something extraordinary when we come together.

Both Rudy Giuliani and Sarah Palin specifically mocked Barack's experience as a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago more than two decades ago, where he worked with people who had lost jobs and been left behind when the local steel plants closed.

Let's clarify something for them right now.

Community organizing is how ordinary people respond to out-of-touch politicians and their failed policies.

And it's no surprise that, after eight years of George Bush, millions of people have found that by coming together in their local communities they can change the course of history. That promise is what our campaign has been about from the beginning.

Throughout our history, ordinary people have made good on America's promise by organizing for change from the bottom up. Community organizing is the foundation of the civil rights movement, the women's suffrage movement, labor rights, and the 40-hour workweek. And it's happening today in church basements and community centers and living rooms across America.