I profiled Organizing for America, the community organizing branch of the DNC, for Townhall magazine.

A copy of the article is posted here in PDF form, with the kind permission of the magazine.

Here is the top of the article:

Liberals responded with howls of indignation when Rudy Giuliani mocked community organizers at last year’s Republican National Convention.

The former mayor of New York City said that Barack Obama “worked as a community organizer.” “What?” Giuliani said as he burst out laughing. Speaking over a boisterous crowd, he continued. “He worked—I said—I said—OK, OK. Maybe this is thefirst problem on the resume. He worked as a community organizer.”

GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, former mayor of tiny Wasilla, Alaska, also got laughs when she belittled Obama’s work with ACORN and other radical groups. “I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a ‘community organizer,’ except that you have actual responsibilities,” Palin quipped.

Conservatives roared approval, but now the Left is aiming to have the last laugh. Conservatives are justifiably suspicious of Obama-style community organizing, so it’s no surprise that Organizing for America (OFA) is the kind of organization that makes those on the Right uneasy.

Prior to last year, most Americans had never heard of community organizing. But what exactly is community organizing?

In the specific sense the Community Organizer-in-Chief uses the term, it’s not about church bake sales, picking up litter, little leagues or parent-teacher associations. Obama-style community organizing is pure leftist, anti-capitalist agitation. It’s about that nebulous Marxist concept of “social justice.” It’s about making people angry so they push for change. It artificially creates pressure for government spending on whatever project is fashionable in leftist circles that day.

OFA attempts to make progressive agitation hip and mainstream. [...]

OFA is “more than a spinoff of Mr. Obama’s presidential campaign—it’s housed at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) but is free to let the Party do the political dirty work, and it keeps his enthusiastic supporters engaged, active and primed for his re-election bid,” according to a recent Washington Times article.

The White House may not legally use the 13 million e-mail addresses compiled during last year’s campaign, so Obama created OFA so he could continue to proselytize between elections.

Obama’s 2008 campaign was “the most technology-savvy political operation in American history,” writes Jose Antonio Vargas, the Huffington Post’s technology editor. [...]

This is unexpected.

Organizing for America (OFA), the activist arm of the Democratic National Committee, is openly campaigning against Sarah Palin, who isn’t running for anything. OFA is the outgrowth of Obama for America, the president’s campaign to win the White House.

Well, on second thought, maybe this shouldn’t be unexpected given that the president is always in campaign mode.

OFA is trying to raise money to fight Palin, calling her “dangerous” because she opposes the imposition of socialist medicine on America.

Here’s the email appeal OFA just sent out:

[name] –

Right now, Sarah Palin is on a highly publicized, nationwide book tour, attacking President Obama and his plan for health reform at every turn.

It’s dangerous. Remember, this is the person who coined the term “Death Panels” — and opened the flood gates for months of false attacks by special interests and partisan extremists.

Whatever lie comes next will be widely covered by the media, then constantly echoed by right-wing attack groups and others who are trying to defeat reform.

As we approach the final sprint on health reform, we can’t afford more deception and delay. We need to be ready for anything — and have the resources to respond with ads, events, and calls to Congress when the attacks come.

So we’re setting a big goal: $500,000 in the next week to help push back against Sarah Palin and her allies. Please chip in $5 or more to help reach our goal.

Earlier this month, Palin publicly said that she hopes health reform will be “dead on arrival.” And since then, she’s been working fiercely toward that goal.

On Tuesday, Palin went on Rush Limbaugh’s radio show where she outrageously — and falsely — suggested that Americans could “face jail time as punishment” if they don’t buy insurance.

Palin has many more interviews scheduled on Hannity and other conservative shows in the next few weeks, with more platforms to go after the President. As soon as she does, the rest of our opponents will likely parrot those attacks.

We need to be prepared. And we’re counting on you help. Can you chip in $5 or more?

[link omitted]

Thanks,

Mitch

Mitch Stewart
Director
Organizing for America

 

Paid for by Organizing for America, a project of the Democratic National Committee — 430 South Capitol Street SE, Washington, D.C. 20003. This communication is not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.

Contributions or gifts to the Democratic National Committee are not deductible as charitable contributions for income tax purposes.

President Obama has admitted he doesn’t believe he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize that was awarded to him earlier today, but that doesn’t mean he won’t use it to push his socialist agenda.

In fact, he served notice today that that is exactly what he intends to do.

Organizing for America, a project of the Democratic National Committee, sent out this email today signed by the president:

This morning, Michelle and I awoke to some surprising and humbling news. At 6 a.m., we received word that I’d been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009.

To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who’ve been honored by this prize — men and women who’ve inspired me and inspired the entire world through their courageous pursuit of peace.
But I also know that throughout history the Nobel Peace Prize has not just been used to honor specific achievement; it’s also been used as a means to give momentum to a set of causes.

That is why I’ve said that I will accept this award as a call to action, a call for all nations and all peoples to confront the common challenges of the 21st century. These challenges won’t all be met during my presidency, or even my lifetime. But I know these challenges can be met so long as it’s recognized that they will not be met by one person or one nation alone.

This award — and the call to action that comes with it — does not belong simply to me or my administration; it belongs to all people around the world who have fought for justice and for peace. And most of all, it belongs to you, the men and women of America, who have dared to hope and have worked so hard to make our world a little better.

So today we humbly recommit to the important work that we’ve begun together. I’m grateful that you’ve stood with me thus far, and I’m honored to continue our vital work in the years to come.

Thank you,

President Barack Obama

 

Paid for by Organizing for America, a project of the Democratic National Committee — 430 South Capitol Street SE, Washington, D.C. 20003. This communication is not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.

I was just going through some old files and I stumbled upon New York magazine’s condescending writeup of Democrat Lynn Forester de Rothschild’s warning before Election Day that electing Barack Obama president would be a disaster for America.

Her words were misrepresented by Jessica Pressler who snottily characterized Rothschild’s views as elitist. 

Rothschild, who was at the time a member of the Democratic National Committee’s platform committee, said in September, “I believe that Barack Obama, with MoveOn.org and Nancy Pelosi and Howard Dean, has taken the Democratic Party – and they will continue to – too far to the left. I’m not comfortable there.”

Rothschild also wrote a Wall Street Journal op-ed denouncing the Democratic Party’s “liberal elitism” that “has been a weakness of the Democratic Party for more than half a century.”