September 2008 Archives

[...] And what appeals to me about Barack Obama is that, his background notwithstanding, he has little of the temperament of an organizer: It's not in his character to radicalize people, to create or stage a confrontation, the way Palin types in the "movement" like to do. Haven't we had enough of politicians who are organizers? Organizers have their place, but not even the greatest ones, Gandhi or Martin Luther King Jr., much less Saul Alinsky, should have been (or even thought they should have been) holders of public office. Part of what public officials do is bind up the wounds that organizers (who serve causes great and squalid) necessarily create. [...]

That's from Thomas Geoghegan's Slate.com essay "Hey, Sarah - Organize This!"

"A lot of hip-hoppers are saying things that Obama can't exactly endorse. So we wanted to make sure the video reached beyond Black America and could be something everyone could appreciate."

That's Trevor Parham, quoted in "New Obama music video puts Oakland in the spotlight," last week's Kamika Dunlap story for the Oakland Tribune.

Aside: I had the good fortune to meet Trevor, who just came back to Oakland from visiting the Democratic National Convention in Denver, two years ago at BlogHer in San Jose.

"We've had a few bloggers support us in the past week or so and it has really done a lot to increase our YouTube views," he said in an e-mail to me. "We're hoping that this song becomes an anthem for all Barack supporters over the next 65 days."