And, so what if someone has a life plan to get to a certain level in their chosen career field. I say, good, shows a talent for planning and an inclination to take the long-term view. Nobody is a viable candidate for President who has not been working for years to make it to the political major leagues, and that doesn’t happen by accident. At least, I’d be wary of anyone who just stumbled into the post…
Speaking as another sort of community organizer (empowering students to fight bullying), the job of organizer isn’t to lobby, but rather to teach disenfranchised people that they can. It’s about showing people their potential power and the path to making it real, then getting them the resources they need to follow that path.
It’s great fun in the long term, but a major ulcer in the short, and the quote from the administrative aide is right: long hours, low pay, rare instances of long-term gratitude, nil job security… it’s no place for someone whose long-term plan is completely based around self-promotion. You do it because, quite simply, it’s a passion.
Good or bad, nasty or kind, stupid or wise, I’ve never met a truly self-centered community organizer. We surely sometimes create selfish community leaders, but that’s a story for another time.
And the job of a community organizer is to empower people to, among other things, lobby for themselves.
That’s always good.
The problem with paid lobbyists is that people get access to legislators, through the lobbyists, more or less in proportion to the money they’re able and willing to spend. It’s not exactly ‘one dollar, one vote,’ but it’s close enough for government work.
I don’t have a problem with paid lobbyists, no matter who they work for or how much they earn.
I think that lobbying, at any level, is perfectly fine. Anyone, even a business, should be free to ask whatever they want of elected officials. These people can’t know all the possible ramifications of all legislation that is considered. It is incumbent upon everyone to let their elected officials know when they feel something needs to be changed. I do think that there should be rules and regulations about financial gifts and whatnot, and perhaps regulations about how much time can be spent meeting/spending time with the same lobbyist/firm. (I know some regulations exist now, but I don’t know what they are aside from caps on donations and gifts.)
I do have a problem with officials who allow themselves to be bought. I do agree with Obama that when you let people do extravagant things for you or give you money, they expect favors in return. So I support his personal goal of not taking money from professional lobbyists. But it seems to me that he is taking money from lobbyists. All of the people donating to his campaign are doing so because supporting his candidacy is their way of lobbying for change.
Perhaps he chose to expend his energy on issues of public importance, in the ways that his intellect, education, and moral judgment seemed most likely to accomplish the improvements he felt were beneficial to the community.
But, that’s just crazy talk, right?
Tris
You don’t exactly build political connections while working in the projects. After getting a Law Degree at Harvard, I can only see doing that work as a labor of love. So I highly doubt that this has been planned out.
Hillary, I think, has had this year planned ever since she took her senate seat; which is why I think she’s projected that air of inevitibility since she started her campaign. She decided this was going to be her time, and honestly believed it until she realized that somebody was ruining her party.
Using recent history as a guide, a life plan resulting in the US Presidency going through the Senate doesn’t sound rock-solid.
You don’t go far enough. He was the Editor-In Chief of the Harvard Law Review. I would probably hire the Editor in Chief of the Harvard Law Review before I hired the valedictorian. He had people trying to throw money at him and he turned it down to go back to community organizing.
So which state would she become governor of? Arkansas?