CSM: A lesson from Wisconsin, Ohio: Take off the kid gloves, Obama

[highplainsdem]

http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2011/0331/A-lesson-from-Wisconsin-Ohio-Take-off-the-kid-gloves-Obama

This opinion piece is by Sally Kohn, a community organizer and political commentator, and the founder and chief education officer of the Movement Vision Lab.

Opinion
A lesson from Wisconsin, Ohio: Take off the kid gloves, Obama
Wisconsin teachers and public workers in Ohio have shown a kind of tenacity and conviction that our Community-Organizer-in-chief President Obama seems to have forgotten. Rather than shying from controversy and compromising his principles, Obama needs to fight his opponents head on.
Bu Sally Kohn | March 31, 2011

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These public school teachers and their allies not only faced controversy head on but also fanned it, condemning their opponents, drawing a bright moral line in the sand, and firmly refusing to compromise. They exemplified some of the very core principles of community organizing that, as a young organizer, Mr. Obama taught others in the living rooms and church basements of Chicago.

-snip-

Considering that conservatives had no qualms comparing Obama to Hitler for his health insurance reform, it’s time for Obama to take off his gloves and remind America that he started his work on the mean streets of Chicago and plans to fight hard for the American people, to protect them from the oligarchic tendencies of the GOP. Given that so many of the Republican’s proposals are deplorable – from de-funding women’s health to privatizing Social Security – it would be easy to deplore their proponents.

-snip-

Of course, Obama has a well-oiled GOP machine and the weight of big business organized against him. Yet while public employee unions are being debased and devalued across the country, public school teachers in Wisconsin stood firmly together, ground the state to a standstill, captivated the nation, and threw their opponents into a tailspin. Through their organizing, Wisconsin teachers proactively defined the public debate in ways that the president has struggled to do. As an organizer might say, never underestimate the power of the people.

In a 1995 interview, Obama said, “What if a politician were to see his job as that of an organizer, as part teacher and part advocate...?” Yes, what if a politician were not to yield to the lowest common denominator in politics but, instead, organize the American people toward a bold and unyielding vision of a better future for everyone. Yes, Mr. President, what if?

[Vincardog]

1. K & FKN R

[movonne]

2. Obama is setting a trap...that is what I read here.... maybe..

[madrchsod]

3. ya right.. we ain`t invited to dinner

[Edweird]

4. A lesson from Central Falls: Obama isn't on the side of the Union worker.

[roguevalley]

5. Obama is on Obama's side. His micro steps toward passing half

assed legislation to ensure his re-election is sad. He doesn't want to be a historical curio: a one term African-American president. In his haste to be a centrist and huggable to all and sundry he is blowing the chance to be one of the greatest presidents. I will bet money that he turns into something much more recognizable when he gets through the next election. Of course, he will need a billion bucks to do it so I may be asking too much from a man with that much political debt. And he should not count on Labor money and hands because in his silence we are dying off. TOo bad. Could have been a contender.