At last week's convention, both Sarah Palin and Rudy 9iu11ani went out of there way to demean Barack Obama's record of community organizing -- indeed, they seemed to mock the very idea of grassroots movements aimed at uprooting the status quo. Today on ABC's This Week, Obama responded forcefully.
"It's curious to me that they would mock that, when I, at least, think that that's exactly what young people should be doing.
"I worked with churches, who were dealing with steel plants that had closed in their neighborhoods, to set up job training programs for the unemployed and after-school programs for youth, and to try to deal with asbestos in homes with poor people -- community service work -- which John McCain has been talking about, putting country first and extolling the virtues of national service. I would think that's what we want all our young people to do. I would think that that's an area where Democrats and Republicans would agree."
On Face the Nation this morning, Senator McCain was asked what he has against community organizing.
Download Download (h/t Heather)
Heather writes:
When McCain is asked about Rudy and Sarah Barracuda mocking Obama being a community organizer, his excuse is that it was just her responding to them saying something about her being a mayor of a small town but of course he doesn't think it's a negative to be a community organizer. If he really thinks that, didn't he even have any control over his own convention?
Apparently not.