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Candace
Talmadge
Read Candace's bio and previous columns
September 8, 2008
Palin Misfires with
Cheap Shot at Community Organizers
The GOP’s gun-toting
NRA-member candidate for vice president badly misfired during her
acceptance speech with a cheap shot at community organizers.
"I guess a small-town
mayor is sort of like a 'community organizer,' except that you have
actual responsibilities,” Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin quipped.
What a gut-buster.
That tawdry remark, of
course, was a dig at Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, who
spent three years as a community organizer during the 1980s right after
graduating from college, before attending law school. He worked for the
Catholic Campaign for Human Development. His job was to help the
residents of Chicago’s South Side – hard hit as factory after factory
shut down – find new employment, pay their bills, remain in their homes,
and generally rebuild their lives and their neighborhoods.
The Illinois senator is
rightly proud of his time as a community organizer, which appears to
have entailed a great deal of responsibility, long hours of hard work
for meager pay, and no media spotlight. While his peers were launching
their careers or furthering their professional education, Obama put his
goals on hold to help the poorest of the poor, those who have no
resources or connections. What he learned during those years has made
him a better lawmaker and citizen.
What has Palin done
that compares to this type of grass-roots service and commitment? A few
volunteer hours for the PTA? Laudable, but not even close.
Her vicious jab is a
disgusting reminder of another GOP effort to disparage an opponent that
devolved into sheer nastiness. During the 2004 Republican National
Convention, attendees mocked the three Purple Heart awards earned by the
Democratic presidential candidate, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry.
Convention-goers drew cutesy heart shapes in purple crayons on Band-Aids
and then applied them as decals to their hats, t-shirts, faces and other
body parts.
A real knee-slapper,
that one.
Every Purple Heart
awarded represents a sacrifice of pain, blood and even life itself. It
is the very least this nation can do to recognize and honor those
wounded or killed in combat. Yet Republicans spat on the spirit of this
honor for the political gain of trivializing Kerry and his decorated,
distinguished military service to this country. A lot of veterans
expressed their dismay over this tactic, even if none of the mainstream
media called the GOP on it.
Back in the present,
Palin likes to tout her Christian faith at very opportunity. Between her
and Obama, however, which one has walked the walk instead of just
talking about it? Did not Jesus urge his followers to minister to the
poor and the neediest? This is exactly what community organizers do all
across this country. They see local problems and take action to try to
fix or at least effect some improvements. Community organizers serve
their neighbors in a multitude of much needed ways. Isn’t this the
essence of the message of Jesus?
Indeed, as the
observation making the Internet rounds points out, Jesus was a community
organizer; Pontius Pilate was a governor.
© 2008
North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.
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