A community organizer

Over at The Plank, Sacha Zimmerman asks

‘Since when is a “community organizer” such a big bad thing to the Republicans? I mean, aren’t delegatesessentially–nay, actually–community organizers? And shouldn’t Republicans, along with all Americans, encourage all citizens to be community organizers? Say community organizing isn’t enough of a qualification if you must, Ms. Palin, but mocking this noble form of leadership in front of people who will presumably be doing the kind of community organizing you’ll soon rely on–getting out the vote, manning the polls, and registering non-voters–just seems wrong.’

This is, of course, absurdly disingenuous. Palin wasn’t mocking Obama for being a community organizer, she was mocking the Obama campaign for denigrating her time as a “small town bumpkin redneck mayor.”* And Palin is raising a legitimate point: in terms of executive branch government experience, even if it is on a relatively small scale, Palin is head and shoulders above Obama, who has no experience at the executive level. Who, let’s face it, barely has any experience in government at all. As I mentioned sometime last week, the GOP and John McCain are ecstatic to turn this into a contest between the Democratic presidential nominee’s experience and the GOP’s vice presidential nominee’s experience. It’s a subtle reminder to everyone watching that hey…maybe Obama isn’t qualified to lead the country.

*That might be a paraphrasing of Obama’s description.