Understanding Obama: The Alinsky Connection
There was a great deal about Barack Obama that Americans did not know when they voted for him as President. To understand this president, who has now won the Nobel Peace Prize, a careful examination of Saul Alinsky is most revealing. The community organizer’s principles are behind such organizations as the Weatherman Underground and the Association of Community Organizers for Change Now (ACORN).
Community Organizer
In 1985, Barack Obama was employed by Chicago’s Developing Communities Project, an organization based on the teachings and activities of Mr. Alinsky. When Obama announced his run for the presidency, he described his years at Chicago’s Developing Communities Project in this way: “…I received the best education I ever had, and where I learned the true meaning of my Christian faith.” Following law school, Obama returned to the Chicago area and taught the Alinsky method.
Saul Alinsky
The Alinsky approach is simply to generate conflict and mobilize the dispossessed. Alinsky is described as “a tactician of the negative - linked by clear-eyed calculations of self-interest.” The overriding philosophical principle in Mr. Alinsky’s methods can be found in the dedication of his book, “Rules for Radicals.” The dedication reads as follows:
Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical: from all our legends, mythology, and history (and who is to know where mythology leaves off and history begins — or which is which), the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom — Lucifer.
So, with the demonic thus referenced, this president’s “best education” deserves examination.
The Alinsky Model
1. Dedication to Lucifer: One cannot take lightly the dedication to Lucifer because what follows is dependent upon a mentality devoid of “conscience.” Alinsky adopted Machiavellian principles while at the same disavowing the ruling class for whom Machiavelli wrote. Machiavelli, he complained, had shown those in power how to stay in power. His work, he said, showed how the disenfranchised could gain power.
2. Qualification:
Alinsky wanted organizers to be persons who have no moral conscience. He wanted persons who were irreverent and detesters of dogma. They needed to be confident visionaries of change. A sense of humor he found useful as a tool of satire and ridicule. Lastly, community organizers must be able to rationalize away their own behaviors.
3. Object of Division:
Alinsky divided the world into three parts; the “Haves,” the “Have Nots” and the “Want Mores”. It was the job of the organizer to foment discontent against the Haves. A great deal of effort has lately gone into making Insurance companies, for example, the “bad guys.”
4. Moral Arguments:
Make the Enemy Play by their Own Rule Book: Alinsky taught that it was vital to cloak the arguments in moral terms. Words such as “justice,” “equality,” “hope,” and, of course “change” were to be hallmarks of the effort. While having no identifiable moral standards, it was easy to challenge the other as hypocritical.
5. Moral Certainty and Ridicule:
On the other hand, amoral organizer Alinsky taught that goals must be presented with absolute moral certainty. Organizers must be 100% committed to their goals, presenting them as 100% moral and any opposition as 100% evil.
6. Controversy, Discontent and Moral Confusion:
The primary tactic used was “an abrasive agent to rub raw the resentments of the people of the community; to fan latent hostilities of many of the people to the point of overt expressions.” Controversy was the lesson Alinsky taught. He wrote, “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.”
7. Multiple Issues and Constant Pressure:
It is not surprising that in the first six months of the Obama administration, highly controversial legislation has been undertaken. The “thousand page” stimulus bill and the “thousand page” health care reform packages are examples of this technique.
8. Mass Impression / Use of the Media:
Obama reportedly had supporters bused into Invesco Stadium in Denver for his Democratic Convention acceptance speech in front of 80,000 people. He has masterminded the use of electronic media. Obama was able to raise an unprecedented $750 million for his campaign.
Saul Alinsky’s 1972 publication, “Rules for Radicals,” defines all of the above tenants and much more. What is remarkable is the consistency with which the Obama administration has applied these principles.
Please pray for President Obama
Jose Vasquez