Housed at the Democratic National Committee, the Sycophantic OFA Is

"! Perpetual Campaign ORGANIZING for SOCIALISM Housed at the Democratic National Committee, the sycophantic OFA is doing everything it can to milk the cult of personality Barack Obama created during the 2008 campaign. Is it really political activism—or a massive ego trip? by Matthew Vadum iberals responded with howls now the Left is aiming to have the for government spending on whatever of indignation when Rudy last laugh. project is fashionable in leftist circles Giuliani mocked community Conservatives are justifi ably suspicious that day. organizers at last year’s of Obama-style community organizing, Republican National Convention. so it’s no surprise that Organizing MAKING SOCIALISM COOL The former mayor of New York City for America (OFA) is the kind of OFA attempts to make progressive said that Barack Obama “worked as a organization that makes those on the agitation hip and mainstream. community organizer.” Right uneasy. OFA tries to cross Howard Dean-style “What?” Giuliani said as he burst out Prior to last year, most Americans had activism with community organizing. laughing. Speaking over a boisterous never heard of community organizing. It seeks to improve on the Internet- crowd, he continued, “He worked—I But what exactly is community based success of Dean’s insurgent 2004 said—I said—OK, OK. Maybe this is the organizing? presidential campaign that propelled the fi rst problem on the resume. He worked In the specifi c sense the Community then-unknown governor from a sparsely as a community organizer.” Organizer-in-Chief uses the term, it’s populated state to frontrunner at the GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah not about church bake sales, picking up beginning of that year’s Democratic Palin, former mayor of tiny Wasilla, litter, little leagues or parent-teacher primary season. Alaska, also got laughs when she belittled associations. OFA, which, as a child of the Obama’s work with ACORN and other Obama-style community organizing president’s 2008 campaign, adapted radical groups. “I guess a small-town is pure leftist, anti-capitalist agitation. its name from Obama for America, is mayor is sort of like a ‘community It’s about that nebulous Marxist headed by Mitch Stewart, who was an organizer,’ except that you have actual concept of “social justice.” It’s about offi cial in the Obama campaign. Before responsibilities,” Palin quipped. making people angry so they push for that, he was the coordinated campaign Conservatives roared approval, but change. It artifi cially creates pressure manager for the Democratic Farm Labor 36 TOWNHALL December 2009 Perpetual Campaignkicker ! Party in Minnesota in 2006, when Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D, won her race. In 2004, he was fi eld director for Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., and regional fi eld director in Iowa for former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., during his presidential run the same year. OFA is “more than a spinoff of Mr. Obama’s presidential campaign—it’s housed at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) but is free to let the Party do the political dirty work, and it keeps his enthusiastic supporters engaged, active and primed for his re-election bid,” according to a recent Washington Times article. The White House may not legally use the 13 million e-mail addresses compiled during last year’s campaign, so Obama created OFA so he could continue to proselytize between elections. Obama’s 2008 campaign was “the most technology-savvy political operation in American history,” writes Jose Antonio Vargas, the Huffi ngton Post’s technology editor. Those millions of e-mail addresses represent “supporters who not just fi nancially supported Obama’s candidacy but also collectively clocked hundreds of hours in volunteer time to help elect him president: knocking on doors, making phone calls, spreading the word around within their own online social networks,” he wrote. Obama’s campaign backers didn’t merely give money, Vargas noted. “They gave money and worked for Obama for free.” Dean, who served four years as DNC chairman after his unsuccessful presidential bid, said for a long time he pushed his party to embrace the idea of a “permanent campaign.” “We now have one, and you have to have that in order to win,” Dean said, adding he’s a “big fan” of OFA. OFA claims to replicate the work of December 2009 TOWNHALL 37 "! NuclearPerpetual Iran Campaign These screenshots from ads entered in the OFA “Health Reform Video Challenge” are two of 20 fi nalists that site visitors can vote on.(YouTube.com) community organizers on a national supporters, it displays this text: “You OFA recruits college students to “build scale, which is diffi cult to do because could save 44,000 Americans each year support for President Obama’s agenda” community organizing is by defi nition who die because they have no health and earn college credit while advocating local. In theory, it’s supposed to involve care. Support a public option.” for “change,” World Net Daily reported. participatory democracy, too. It’s not Judges for the contest included “By becoming a National Organizing supposed to be dictated down to local Obama campaign manager David Intern, you’ll be part of the grassroots communities from on high by the DNC. Plouffe, and actors Rosario Dawson, effort to make the change we fought for Labor organizer turned Harvard Kate Walsh and John Cho. Perhaps Cho, a reality in 2009 and beyond,” said an academic Marshall Ganz, who trained who played “Harold” in the hit movie OFA notice posted on social-networking state organizers for the Obama “Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle” websites. “You’ll learn core organizing campaign, agrees the OFA model is was recommended by Kal Penn, a White principles that are crucial for any fl awed. “It’s much more an instrument House outreach offi cial who played campaign and play an important role in of mobilizing the bottom to serve the top alongside him as “Kumar.” building our organization in your state.” than organizing the bottom to participate A “project” of the Democratic The notice continues: “President in shaping the direction of the top,” he National Committee, Organizing for Obama describes his time as a told the liberal New Republic. America’s very name is disconcerting community organizer by saying: ‘It was Whatever you want to call OFA’s to conservatives because it evokes the best education I ever had, because activism, it relies heavily on the Internet images of the radical left-wing father of I learned in those neighborhoods that and frequently draws upon the successful community organizing, Saul Alinsky. A when ordinary people come together, model of meet-up activism and point- Marxist Machiavelli, Alinsky dedicated they can achieve extraordinary things.’ and-click fundraising developed by his classic activism manual, “Rules for This is your chance to get that same MoveOn.org. That group, which helps to Radicals,” to Lucifer, whom he called education. keep the Democratic Party tilting to port, the “fi rst radical known to man.” The “If you’re passionate about making was created in 1998 as an effort to build purpose of the book was to help activists sure every American has quality grassroots opposition to the Republican take power from the “haves” and health care, reviving our economy, and effort to impeach President Clinton. redistribute it to the “have-nots.” building a clean energy future, don’t Today, the campaigns waged by OFA and Alinsky, a Chicagoan who elevated miss this great opportunity. No previous MoveOn.org often overlap. Sometimes local-level political agitation to an art experience is needed in order to apply.” similar mass e-mails from both groups form, was a signifi cant infl uence on will arrive in members’ e-mail boxes Obama, who, like Alinsky, cut his teeth SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION within minutes of each other. organizing in the Windy City. Alinsky Organizing for America exists to In the fall, OFA copied a publicity- believed in “rubbing raw the sores of relentlessly press for change. grabbing formula from MoveOn.org by discontent.” He prescribed the tactics “The advantage of Organizing creating a contest to produce a 30- and defi ned the goals of community for America is that it can be devoted second TV ad arguing for government- organizing. Among his “rules”: “Keep exclusively to a particular issue, run health care. the pressure on. Never let up” and 100 million percent,” said DNC One ad entered in the “Health Reform “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it communications director Brad Video Challenge” shows an overturned and polarize it.” Woodhouse. car burning on a highway, a woman One OFA program might well have The New Republic describes OFA as drowning and a raging fi re, and asks sprung from the mind of Obama’s “an Internet version of the top-down the viewer if he would help the people close personal friend Bill Ayers, the political machines built by Richard Daley shown if given the opportunity. Referring unrepentant terrorist turned education in Chicago or Boss Tweed in New York. to a bogus study by socialized-medicine professor. The difference (other than technology) 38 TOWNHALL December 2009 PerpetualNuclear Campaignkicker Iran ! was that this new machine would rely on grown more widespread since it was An OFA employee told me there’s ideological loyalty, not patronage.” revealed in the summer that the Obama never been any intention of making the When Obama received the Nobel White House tried to use the National group a permanent component of the Peace Prize, he blasted out a mass Endowment for the Arts to generate Democratic Party. “We haven’t thought it e-mailing through OFA that served art supportive of the president’s policy through that far.

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