When will the left stop being afraid of discussing Obama and Saul Alinsky?

[Radical Activist]

I feel like venting about something. The red scare is over. But you wouldn't know it by the way much of the left whispers about Saul Alinsky and how Obama was influenced by his approach during his time as a community organizer in Chicago. I could understand it during the campaign, even if it seemed cowardly. But in the long run, you can't win people over to an ideology that only gets passed along quietly at lefty meetings and college campuses.

Conservatives do their best to marry the words "big government" and "liberal" because they know Americans are primarily anti-authoritarian. Then why should we continue to be shy about one of the most important figures of the anti-authoritarian left?

Of course Obama isn't the same person today as he was when working as a community organizer for an Alinsky-inspired organization in his 20's. But, it does help us understand something about who he is. It even helps us understand why many on the authoritarian left will never be happy with his approach to governing.

The result of the left's failure to discuss and embrace Alinsky is that only whack-job conservatives like Glenn Beck are talking about it. If you google the topic you'll find almost nothing but red-baiting propaganda that treats any association with Alinsky like it's something to be ashamed of.

When are we going to let go of the red scare mentality and boldly stand up for what we believe in? It does no good to let conservatives define us.

[ibegurpard]

1. no one knows who Saul Alinsky is

and you think bringing that up in the current climate is a good idea?
Even the people who listen to Glenn Beck wouldn't be able to tell you anything about him.
Keep your day job.

[Radical Activist]

4. "In the current climate"

The climate will never change as long as the public are only hearing basic ideological principles from the right and center.

Most people aren't afraid of the communist boogie man anymore and Alinsky wasn't communist anyway. It might actually gain Obama support to talk about it openly rather than letting Glenn Beck be the only way people can find out.

[truedelphi]

2. And then there is that itty bitty thing of the

DLC defining what the conservatives don't.

So that over the years, the "Democratic" Party, and its leaders, slant to the right of Richard Nixon's ideology.

[Radical Activist]

3. Exactly.

The tactical approach of hiding out during the election may help in the short term but it's suicidal in the long-run.

[xchrom]

5. The left did not leave Obama - nor is the left

Afraid of those connections.

It's te reverse that's true.

Nothing the left can do about that.

[Radical Activist]

6. So when Glenn Beck started demagoguing about Alinsky

did left pundits make a response? Has there been meaningful discussion about Obama's less authoritarian approach to government that some liberals are unhappy with? I didn't see that. Nor have I seen many left pundits realize that real organizing on the ground is more than writing a blog to whine for dear leader to hand us down more change. Actually, I think most of our left punditry simply don't get it. They don't teach Alinsky in journalism school or Marxist theory class.

[xchrom]

9. Ultimately the pundits have nothing with

The decisions of an admin that decides to govern from
Right of center.

All they can do is note it.

And people like Amy Goodwin are vert
Involved.

[Radical Activist]

10. Everything Obama proposes is to the left of what Congress will pass.

Given that fact, it's a stretch to call him right of center if you're talking about the American political spectrum.

And there's always something more you can do than note a problem. There's every sign that, unlike Bush, Obama will respond to being pushed from the left. The Senate is the roadblock.

[alcibiades_mystery]

7. I'm not convinced that you'll be satisfied

until there are 100 Republican Senators and you can actually preach righteously about being oppressed, because you will in fact be utterly oppressed.

Unbelievable.

[Radical Activist]

8. I can't tell what your comment has to do with my post.

If anything, the Tea Party movement proves that there's a constituency for an Alinsky-style national movement to harness populist discontent. But since liberals are still cowed into silence by their red-scare mentality we have to watch the right use an astro-turf version of Alinsky tactics to build a qausi-fascist movement. No, I don't think the current approach is helping to keep Democrats in power. You can't build support for an ideology if you're afraid to speak about it openly.