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Today, I become a "Community Organizer"

January 1, 2009

Except in very close circles, I have studiously refrained from commenting on the apPalling choice for VP made by John McCain. I have done so mostly due to my willingness to hear her make her case for why Americans should entrust the office of the Presidency to her, in case John McCain becomes otherwise incapacitated.

Except in very close circles, I have studiously refrained from commenting on the apPalling choice for VP made by John McCain. I have done so mostly due to my willingness to hear her make her case for why Americans should entrust the office of the Presidency to her, in case John McCain becomes otherwise incapacitated.

It is not because I have not read every one of the things that strongly "disqualifies" her for the office she seeks - I have. I wanted to see her EARN the right to be so close to the fabled "Red Button" at the ungodly hour of "3 AM". I wanted to see her demonstrate "substance". I wanted to see all these (and more) not because it may influence my vote or anything like that - no, it is because I firmly believe that until you get a chance to actually know something about someone directly from that person (or their actions), making an informed judgment about the person is a rather onerous task.

Tonight I sat and listened to Sarah Palin, erstwhile Mayor of Wasilla, and I wept. With all due respect and unreserved apologies to all cheerleaders everywhere, today I witnessed a woefully ill-equipped and irredeemable asshatery performance of a taunting cheerleader auditioning for a part for which no amount of babysitting, cramming or private tutoring could prepare her in the next foreseeable future.

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I cried, most of all, because Sarah Palin, in her most scurrilous and denigrating performance of the night, unnecessarily chose to belittle "Community Activism". You will be excused if you don't know what a "Community Organizer" does, and you may get a pass if you didn't know and chose to ridicule the job. But, if you are aspiring for the office of the Vice Presidency of this nation, and you do not know the job description of a "Community Organizer", you do NOT get a pass. The importance of community organizing in our society cannot be overstated. What with the debilitating societal ills rampant in many of our communities these days?

It is one thing to not understand what a Vice President does, but with the high rate of teen pregnancy, the mother of a pregnant teen (more so, a governor) would be expected to at least recognize the important support system facilitated by community outreach programs in our society.

Yes, a mother would - if she were in some ways connected to reality and not comfortably enshrouded in the comfortable cocoon of privileges and elitism.

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Governor Palin sneered at "Community Organizing" as if it were a plague-infested profession better left to the lowly and the unclassifiable classes of our society - but even if it were, don't the lowliest among us deserve a little bit more than this aspersion and ignominy from the potential Vice President of this nation? Is Palin too completely inured against realities to know that, without the support systems, our society would look nothing like the proud one we all cherish today? Has the trappings of powers so clouded Sarah Palin's judgment in such a way that she could not fathom the possibilities that Community Organizing is done not by automatons, but by REAL AMERICANS? Or is she denigrating the job because Community Organizing is one of the roles that could not be easily outsourced as is the current practice with the GOP?

A community organizer is a real human being who saves lives and communities, resuscitate them from penury, devastation, dilapidation and abject ruins, fix the little broken windows in our communities and generally give people back their lives, infusing in them the pride and the willingness to live and better their lots in life. Community Organizing is the glue that keeps our society together, make sure that our parks are in shape, our kids have after-school activities that keep them out of trouble, and ensure that counsel is provided to the ones that don't stay out of trouble. With which of these does Sarah Palin have issues strong enough as to cause her to spit on this profession?

Community organizing is a proud undertaking, and it is an arduous one. It is an undertaking that does not lead to wealth or even glory. It is selflessness and the ultimate in "giving back to the society". When the military person goes off to secure our freedom by fighting in wars and keeping the peace, the community organizer is back here MAINTAINING and SPREADING the fruits of the freedom so earned. As the military person is in the trenches putting out fires and sowing the seeds of freedom, the community organizer is wading into treacherous streets, putting out the embers of gang wars, helping the hapless parents tend to their wounded, put food on the table, or (sadly, but true) helping bury the unfortunate victim of societal violence. Of what use is earning freedom if the society cannot partake in such freedom?

Governor Palin did not have to pit one class of American against the other. She chose to do so, hoping to score cheap political points - much as I used to do in my high school debates, back in the days. It was jejune and demeaning to the office of a mayor, to be quite charitable. I realize that she delivered a "speech" that she had no part in writing - for that she may be excused. But, if you want to be the Vice President (and, maybe, the President) of the United States of this America, is it too much to ask that you exercise a little more sound judgment and be able to question what you are supposed to utter? If Governor Palin could not ask for lines to be removed from a prepared speech, how could she be relied upon to be better than the current occupier of the office of the Presidency? Are we in for another batch of "Yes-people"? If Governor Palin intentionally chose to pee on Community Organizers on her "coming-out" night, one is entitled to wonder what it is that she thinks Community Organizers do. Since she said that they don't make decisions, could we ask her to state exaclty what it is that the Community Organizers do in Wasilla because, the Community Organizers I have known do make life or death, make or mar decisions on a daily basis - it is one of the tasks of Community Organizing.

Today, I weep for joy and sadness - joy that this is all there is to Governor Palin and sadness that this is all there is to someone aspiring to the office of the Vice President of the United States. But I also weep in knowing that Palin's credentials "pale" in comparison to Joe Biden's and John McCain had just failed the biggest test of his political campaign.

Today, Governor Palin had a chance to tell the American people about the things that makes her want this job and to prove her qualifications for the said job - on both front, she flopped like a soggy sponge. Tonight, I become a Community Organizer, because there is no way I am sitting idly by while McCain and his appalling choice are "accidentally" foisted on this country for the next four years - Eight is Enough!

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