Editorial 10.11, November 2008, by Deirdre Helfferich

And Now for Something Completely Different?

For the liberals among us, the last eight years have been a hellish nightmare—and we still have two months to go. But Obama’s election to the presidency, historic and momentous as it is, is not going to change much in this country—not by itself. Despite the theme of his campaign, and the many promises made during its course, Obama is still dependent upon the networks of people that help make diplomacy and politics happen. He needs people with expertise not only in their field, but in how Washington works. Outsiders are all well and good, but if they don’t have connections and experience in the upper levels of government, then they can’t do squat. Thus, I am not among those horrified by Obama’s appointment of Rahm Emanuel as chief of staff. Obama needs somebody with skill, history, and pitbull toughness. With this appointment, Obama made it clear that he’s not going to be a pushover—and there are indications that Obama will conduct himself differently than recent presidents, and his policies will indeed be fresh air in the corrupted air of the capital.

For one thing, the transition team, headed by John Pedesta, is putting strong restrictions on lobbyists getting involved during and for a year after the transition—already a stark contrast to George W. Bush’s penchant for installing lobbyists to oversee the industries for which they recently advocated.

The transition team is also reviewing the status of more than 100 federal agencies—“virtually every agency,” according to Pedesta, so that the new president and his administration can start making informed decisions before and immediately on occupation of the White House.

And, highly significant to those of us who watched aghast as Bush squeezed together church and state and declared dictatorial powers through his executive orders, President-Elect Obama and his team are reviewing all GW’s executive orders with an eye toward determining which ones to reverse, amend, or retain.

These are all positive signs, but what will make or break the success of his administration is what our own governor once derided him for: his experience as a community organizer.

Community organizing is tough. It is a very difficult way to effect change, and burns out a lot of volunteers along the way—including Barack Obama, who gave up on it eventually as insufficient for broad change. Obama worked in Chicago as a community organizer according to the principles worked out by Saul Alinsky, as described by John Judis:

[T]he job of an organizer is to discover what citizens think is in their self-interest and then help them fight for it. …[T]he organizer himself should not become a public leader, but should operate behind the scenes to encourage "natural" or "native" leaders among the people he is organizing. That is, the goal of an organizer is never to create a movement based on his own charisma…[and] organizers should draw a clear line between their work and the political world. An organization should forge "no permanent political ties"….*

Obama has obviously gone about politics in an entirely different way since then—and his approach is working. His campaign relied heavily on his personal charisma and ability to inspire. This, combined with careful and detailed planning, has brought him to the highest office a politician can attain. His campaign has combined intelligent top-down leadership with the massive grassroots organizational effort of a political movement: the strongest combination in politics.

Wikipedia has a succinct definition of the term: “Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions.” Activism at the community level is the bedrock of politics—it’s what we do here when we attend an Ester Community Association meeting, or descend en masse on a borough assembly meeting, or serve in a volunteer organization. Activism at the national level is the realm of politcs—and of nationwide political movements. Obama has gone beyond both community organizing and the ordinary venal politics of power: he has inspired and harnessed a movment. If he is true to his ideals and the ideals of the movement, can keep that momentum going, and remains within the practical limits of the power of the presidency, his—and our—chance for change will actually mean something. If the movement falters, or he compromises those ideals too much, then his presidency will stay at the purely symbolic.

* “Creation Myth: What Barack Obama won’t tell you about his community organizing past,” by John B. Judis, 9/10/08, The New Republic.

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