Inner City? - What's An Inner City?
Answer: It's Something Bigger Than Wasilla
The Democrats are finally getting around to countering Sarah Palin's jab against community organizers. There's a wonderful video of Barack Obama's work on Reuters. Unfortunately, I couldn't embed it into this post. I was able, however, to come up with an inspirational Obama ad. See it below.
Mocking Obama's service as a community organizer has been, well, mocked. And I'm glad. Palin's comments were as demeaning as they were meant to be. Have you noticed that Palin - like McCain - doesn't give much thought to what she says? Obama, on the other hand, chooses his words very carefully. Thoughtless, quick words point to a politician. Well-considered words denote a statesman. The same goes for McCain's "bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb bomb Iran."
Biden, of course, should not be left out of the subject of thoughtless words. I know that he's had a lot of gaffs, but I think he's thoughtful enough to admit and correct them. Palin's speeches have not corrected themselves: she has repeated the insulting lie "thanks, but no thanks" about 11 times after it was discovered that she not only approved of earmarks, she had at one time hired a lobbyist to get as many as possible, and never had any communication with Washington whatsoever that she refused earmarks.
As to the comparison of a mayor of a small town to a community organizer in Chicago's South Side, yes, there is quite a difference. I would challenge Palin to say that she knows the problems of an inner city ghetto. She doesn't. She couldn't possibly relate. Obama pulled together schools and churches in an area populated by 100,000 (mostly) African Americans to whom gunshots and sirens were more common than the cries of a mating moose. "Actual responsibilities" were more numerous and more serious than Palin experienced in Wasilla, Alaska.
There is a rather silly inversion of Palin's comparison, but there is a ring of truth to it: "Jesus was a community organizer. Pontius Pilate was a governor." In the sense that Jesus was an activist, yes. In the sense that Pontius Pilate had more responsibilities, no: Pilate had responsibilities given to him by Rome, while Jesus had a mandate from God.
Mocking Obama's service as a community organizer has been, well, mocked. And I'm glad. Palin's comments were as demeaning as they were meant to be. Have you noticed that Palin - like McCain - doesn't give much thought to what she says? Obama, on the other hand, chooses his words very carefully. Thoughtless, quick words point to a politician. Well-considered words denote a statesman. The same goes for McCain's "bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb bomb Iran."
Biden, of course, should not be left out of the subject of thoughtless words. I know that he's had a lot of gaffs, but I think he's thoughtful enough to admit and correct them. Palin's speeches have not corrected themselves: she has repeated the insulting lie "thanks, but no thanks" about 11 times after it was discovered that she not only approved of earmarks, she had at one time hired a lobbyist to get as many as possible, and never had any communication with Washington whatsoever that she refused earmarks.
As to the comparison of a mayor of a small town to a community organizer in Chicago's South Side, yes, there is quite a difference. I would challenge Palin to say that she knows the problems of an inner city ghetto. She doesn't. She couldn't possibly relate. Obama pulled together schools and churches in an area populated by 100,000 (mostly) African Americans to whom gunshots and sirens were more common than the cries of a mating moose. "Actual responsibilities" were more numerous and more serious than Palin experienced in Wasilla, Alaska.There is a rather silly inversion of Palin's comparison, but there is a ring of truth to it: "Jesus was a community organizer. Pontius Pilate was a governor." In the sense that Jesus was an activist, yes. In the sense that Pontius Pilate had more responsibilities, no: Pilate had responsibilities given to him by Rome, while Jesus had a mandate from God.
Palin's choice of the word "community" was also wrong, since communities are diverse and some quite large.
When it comes to attacks, I think Palin should stick to hunting moose.
Just a thought.
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