We Know The Real Barack Obama

National Review Online: The Democrat Wraps His Far-Left Agenda In The Veil Of Pragmastism

(National Review Online)  This column was written by Stanley Kurtz.

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Reflecting on all that I’ve written about Barack Obama over these past six months, four inter-related points stand out: Obama’s radicalism, his stealthy incrementalism, his interest in funding and organization-building, and his willingness to use - or quietly support - Alinskyite intimidation tactics. Since we stand on the cusp of the election, I’ll lay out the bottom line. For those who want to know more, go back and read the detailed studies on which I base these conclusions.

Obama’s troubling associations are more than isolated friendships or instances of bad judgment. His ties to Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers, Bernardine Dohrn, Rashid Khalidi, Michael Pfleger, James Meeks, ACORN, the New Party, and the Gamaliel Foundation all reflect Obama’s sympathy with radical-left ideas and causes - wealth redistribution prominent among them. At both the Woods Fund and the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, for example, Obama and Ayers channeled money into ACORN’s coffers. ACORN, a militant group pursuing economic redistribution, succeeded in undermining credit standards throughout the banking system, thereby modeling the New Party’s plans to tame capitalism itself. So the association with Ayers is not an outlier issue, but part and parcel of a network of radical ties through which Obama’s supported “major redistributive change.” Via ACORN, that project has already nearly wrecked our economy. What will happen when it’s generalized?

Similarly, Obama’s “association” with Wright was far more than a mere pastor-parishioner - or even mentor-protégé - relationship. Obama’s work with the Gamaliel Foundation required him to “organize” left-leaning churches into a larger political force. His real interest in Wright, Pfleger, and Meeks was to turn them into the nucleus of a far broader politicized coalition of radical black churches - as shown, for example, by his work with them on the Illinois racial-profiling bill. Again, we are not dealing with mere “associations,” but with intentional political partnerships.

Although media malfeasance is at the heart of our ignorance about these broader patterns, Obama’s absorption of Alinskyite strategies of stealthy incrementalism have helped to hide the truth. Following well-worn organizer strategies, Obama knows how to wrap ideological radicalism in the soothing rhetoric of “pragmatism” and classic American values. There is a kernel of truth to the pragmatism, however. Radical though his ultimate goals may be, Obama follows classic organizer strategy - pursuing his ends in tiny, incremental, and cumulative baby-steps. The municipal “living wage” campaigns supported by Obama, Wright, and groups like ACORN and the New Party were never designed, in themselves, to bring fundamental economic change. These ordinances actually applied to only a very small number of companies. The broader purpose of these battles was to build coalitions for deeper structural change on the national level, when the moment was right. Obama would likely hew to this incrementalism in power, with the same radical long-term goals in mind.

Obama was a master at channeling funding to his organizer allies. He was the key force turning the Woods Fund toward a major increase in support for community organizers, at a moment when other foundations shied away from funding the militant and confrontational tactics of groups like ACORN. In his now infamous 2001 radio remarks, Obama’s preferred strategy for promoting “major redistributive change” was through society-wide organizing from below. As president, Obama would connect his massive youth-volunteer program to his favorite community-organizer groups, thereby creating a political force for long-term restructuring of the American economy. This was the program of the New Party, and I believe it is still Obama’s long-term goal.

In pursuit of his goals, Obama has shown himself willing to quietly support, and sometimes to openly use, radical Alinskyite tactics. At the Woods Fund, Obama’s allies bragged about the way their “post-ideological” cover had allowed them to fund ACORN’s confrontational tactics, while escaping public criticism. Obama has shamelessly used Alinskyite “direct action” to silence and intimidate political foes during the current campaign (a matter well-known to conservatives, yet little noted by the mainstream press). Victory would only cement the conviction in Obama and his allies that these tactics had “won,” and therefore should be used again.

Has Obama changed? Was he merely using his radical Chicago allies to gain national renown, and thereby an opening for a more moderate political program? I find this view unconvincing. Obama has often claimed that his early community organizing, and his redistributive legislative work, were at the very core of his political identity. We’ve heard his radicalism on the radio in 2001. Does anyone really believe that he’s changed in 2008? Obama’s political radicalism consolidated his shaky personal identity. It formed him as an adult. He cannot abandon that inner stance without losing hold of an already precarious self. Obama chose to live in Hyde Park - chose that radical setting as the site of his adult self-creation. Hyde Park was never the place Obama needed to conquer in order to escape. On the contrary, it was the personally chosen home he now hopes to nationalize by spreading his organizing gospel to America’s youth.

Obama is clever and pragmatic, it’s true. But his pragmatism is deployed on behalf of radical goals. Obama’s heart is, and will remain, with the Far Left. Yet he will surely be cautious about grasping for more, at any given moment, than the political traffic will bear. That should not be mistaken for genuine moderation. It will merely be the beginning stages of a habitually incremental radicalism. In his heart and soul, Barack Obama was and remains a radical-stealthy, organizationally sophisticated, and - when necessary - tactically ruthless. The real Obama - the man beyond the feel-good symbol - is no mystery. He’s there for anyone willing to look. Sad to say, few are.

[noloyalisti]

Why are almost all the dirty tricks being done by the Republicon Party, the party of war and death and spending?

Is that what makes conservatives proud? Is corruption and deceit now Christian? Time to thin the herd maybe. VOTE FOR OBAMA FOR REAL CHANGE WE NEED. Vote against right wing and Christian fascism.

[bm6005]

GOP - Party of Hate!!!

[puldr]

Fortunately, we know the real McCain - warmonger, Bush-like ''conservative'', proponent of ''trickle down'' economy!

[trillion1]

The sad thing for the GOP is the world has seen the real mccain. A person with 13 houses saying he understands the middle class, a person with a very short fuse who does not like opinions that don''t support his, a person that wants to give corporations more tax breaks, a person with a VP choice who can''t even remember a single newspaper or magazine she''s read, a person who''es campaign is full of lobbists.

[bm6005]

Can anyone here explain how a military retiree who became a senator amasses a a $5 mil net worth? If I knew the military paid so well I would have stayed in. NOT!!

[Razzl]

Reading Kurtz as he and NRO unravel over Obama''s impending victory is a lot like that scene in the film "A Beautiful Mind" where we get to see a garage filled with elaborate notes and memos about breaking imaginary codes to reveal imaginary enemies. The analysis has all the formality of something real, but the circuit breakers between fact and fiction have gotten tripped up and aren''t functioning any more...

[joe68sg1]

Article from Yahoo! Just another example of republiCON distain for our country.

Bush team rushes environment policy changes

Whether it''s getting wolves off the Endangered Species List, allowing power plants to operate near national parks, loosening regulations for factory farm waste or making it easier for mountaintop coal-mining operations, these proposed changes have found little favor with environmental groups.

Even some free-market organizations have joined conservation groups to urge a moratorium on last-minute rules proposed by the Interior Department and the Environmental Protection Agency, among others.

John Kostyack of the National Wildlife Federation, which joined Lehrer''s group to call for a ban on these last-minute rules, said citizens are cut out of the process, allowing changes in U.S. law that the public opposes, such as rolling back protections under the Endangered Species Act.

Industry is likely to benefit if Bush''s rules on the environment become effective, Madia said.

"Whether it''s the electricity industry or the mining industry or the agriculture industry, this is going to remove government restrictions on their activity and in turn they''re going to be allowed to pollute more and that ends up harming the public," Madia said in a telephone interview.

What is unusual is the speedy trip some of these environmental measures are taking through the process.

[sst01]

Just so I have this straight,

Obama,with the help of his evil cohorts: Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers, Bernardine Dohrn, Rashid Khalidi, Michael Pfleger, will together raise the communist flag on the White House lawn come January?

Do they really have time to fluoridate the water
by then?

[imnho]

It seems that the NRO is having a hard time dwaling with reality. They are staring into the deep water and wondering how long they can tread the stormy politcal waters that they are about to be dumped in. A this point they are rearainging the deck chairs on the Titanic as it goes down. I think they have cried wolf ounce to often.

[andor3]

"It seems that the NRO is having a hard time dealing with reality."

they often do and denial is the first stage of dealing with a crisis. Or anger, seeing some of that too.

Best just to be firm with them now--let them know they have done wrong and caused a lot of trouble and are going to be held accountable for it, but they will make it through.

[naber1961]

I cannot wait to hear McCain''s concession speech!!!

[andor3]

razzl: "The analysis has all the formality of something real, but the circuit breakers between fact and fiction have gotten tripped up and are not functioning any more..."

Wow! that is brilliant and so right on. Love that image. That is the essence of GOP: make fiction appear real and make nonsense seem like common sense. When that facade falls, it does it in a spectacular way as we are seeing.

[filmguy107]

Stanley...it''s medication time!

[Gary Kempf]

Stanley Kurtz
Shouldn''t you be spewing your garbage on Fox News?

NRO tranlates to: "No Real Observations"

[birdyspice7]

This looks to be written by an old, white fear spreader. Good lord. This reminds me of that lady who told McCain, "he''s a Arab".

This country is not mostly white people anymore. Get over it. We are heading towards a real melting pot where we''ve got many conflicting ideals and beliefs. I''m sorry Obama doesn''t drive a big chevy, listen to country music, fish, hunt, watch nascar, or where ignorance on his sleeve. Things have changed.

[mswolfestock]

Here is a great example of why I have been voting for Democrats since 1972. It is also a great example of why I hate Republicans - they are all so mean and mean-spirited. They are also bigoted and narrow-minded . . . This mean-spirited woman in Michigan stooped so low as to inject politics into children''s Halloween trick or treating. Totally disgusting but so totally Republican . . . . . .

(AP) A suburban Detroit woman has decided to scare up the vote among neighborhood children by just offering treats to John McCain supporters.

Shirley Nagel of Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich., handed out candy Friday only to those who shared her support for the Republican presidential candidate and his running mate Sarah Palin. Others were turned away empty-handed.

TV station WJBK says a sign outside Nagel''s house warned: "No handouts for Obama supporters, liars, tricksters or kids of supporters."

Nagel calls Democrat Barack Obama "scary." When asked about children who were turned away empty-handed and crying, she said: "Oh well. Everybody has a choice."

Fax and phone messages left at numbers for Nagel were not returned.

[labrat9999]

You know just because Senator Obama chose not to through trash out about John McCain doesn''t mean it wasn''t there. But since you fail to mention it...let''s see the Keating 5, the S&L bailout, the lobbyist, the lack of vetting of a VP, the shutting down of the search for POWs/MIAs, the sealing the records of the search of POWs/MIAs, and MOST of all he was a traitor that gave away Secrets to the Vietanmese that got thousand of US soliders killed. So let''s talk about the true McCain...not the BS.

[debie_0202]

I say amen to labrat9999. Republican''s I know are arrogant, better than others, and nasty when campaigning! That is why I voted saturday for Obama!!!

[kofiananimus]

CBS does itself a disservice using far-right-wing organizations (Nat%u2019l Review among others) and far-left-wing organizations (The Nation) for its opinion pieces. CBS is choosing sensationalism over rationality by picking the polar opposite shouting factions to do these pieces.
President Obama will **** off the left wing as much as the right wing during his presidency. He is far too centrist for the left wingers. This %u201Cjournalistic%u201D piece (of sh*t) is just far right talking points%u2026 no basis in reality whatsoever.

[dredigga]

This is funny. I knew this story was from the NRO just from reading the headline. No need for me to read it though because I already know the gist of it without having to do so. My only question is why does CBS continue to give space to this rightwing propaganda machine?

[dredigga]

Nagel calls Democrat Barack Obama "scary." When asked about children who were turned away empty-handed and crying, she said: "Oh well. Everybody has a choice."

Fax and phone messages left at numbers for Nagel were not returned.

Posted by mswolfestock

Wow, the civility and class of GOP supporters. Even if I did not like Obama, I would never vote for a party whose people are like this.

[ddaryl1]

I love Obamas left sided wealth re-distributin system...

Why because it benefits me a blue collar worker.

Not one single thing the far right sided George Bush has done has benefitted me, not one single thing.

So republicans who are afraid of Obama be elected should have thought of this possibility when they pushed Bush / Cheney.

Did anyone really beleive a far right sided government was going to work. It benefitted the welathy only and left the rest of us scared broke and worried.

I think I will embrace far left politics for a long while after Bush Cheney.

[agidoi]

you know cuba want''ed a change also back in 1959 and they got it with castro the same things obama is saying

[loony-left]

Are you a "friend of hussein" or are you a "Real American"?

"friends of hussein": "To avoid being mistaken for a sellout, I chose my friends carefully. The more politically active black students. The foreign students. The Chicanos. The Marxist professors and structural feminists." ...From his self-glorifying memoir, "Dreams From My Father".

"Real Americans": hard-working, tax-paying, American citizen who would NEVER, unlike michelle, give America a one-finger salute by saying: "For the FIRST TIME in my life I am proud of my country."

Every Real American should be afraid, very afraid of hussein''s plans to socialize America by RE-DISTRUBUTING YOUR WEALTH to his "friends".

Reject this shallow, arrogant, platitude-spouting, inexperienced, Marxist, drug-addicted, elitist, narcissistic, flip-flopping gas-bag who is so mentally deficient from extensive drug use he even has to plagiarize his hollow platitudes.

Instead, vote for somebody who will reform the Washington mess - instead of making it an even more horrific monster.

[greeneyes222]

Funny how little Obama''s followers know about history, and how willingly they turn a blind eye to it. I''d be willing to bet they don''t have a clue who Saul Alinsky was. In fact, the bulk of this article probably flew right over their heads.

Which of course is exactly what Obama wants.

[tejasdemo]

Republicans dont even know themselves moreless anyone else.

Another swing in the dark by the National Nazi.

[tejasdemo]

Oh, and save your breath Repugs. I voted last week and it wasnt for the 2 clowns you.....people ( I use the term very loosely ) camp up with.

[lostcountry1]

hey stanley kurtz... who are you going to work for after nov. 5th?i didnt read the propaganda b.s. story either as it would be the same old right wing, left bashing that is the basis for everything the gop azzkissers write.if any one of them ever had a realistic idea,they would have to patent it to keep the other right wing propagandists from stealing it.you are a loser stan.go see if you can get a job at the ranch in crawford.

[trillion1]

The rightwing posts has become so moronic it''s sad. I feel for them though.They are all basically Joe The Plumber. Thinking they will be taxed for money they can never hope to earn.

[biggcheese1]

Hey, greeneyes222:
Funny how much history McCain supporters ignore. Remember that he already sold out his constituents, his party and America already? For $112,000 in campaign contributions, free air travel for 3 years on a private jet and luxury accommodations at Charles Keating owned properties across the country, John McCain just had to cast votes for legislation favorable to Lincoln Savings. When it was discovered what he was doing, he blew the whistle on the other congressmen in on the deal with him. What a guy!

[kansas1946]

Blah...blah...who in their right mind would give any credibility to an article written for NRO. This is a blatently biased publication repeating the same old
c r a p that the Republicans have been spouting for months. It didn''t work then and it ain''t working now. The only people that would take any of this stuff seriously from NR were already going to vote Republican.

[kansas1946]

Funny how little Obama''''s followers know about history, and how willingly they turn a blind eye to it. I''''d be willing to bet they don''''t have a clue who Saul Alinsky was. In fact, the bulk of this article probably flew right over their heads.

Which of course is exactly what Obama wants.


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Posted by greeneyes222 at 05:09 PM : Nov 03, 2008
+ report abuse
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LMAO. Hey green. You might want to check out the electoral map and see which states are "strongly red" and then check the level of education, poverty, etc., in those states compared to strongly "blue states." It is a little far fetched for you to use intellectual snobism against a candidate that the higher the education level of the voter, the more likely they are to support Obama.

[tx_doughboy]

Are you a "friend of hussein" or are you a "Real American"?

"friends of hussein": "To avoid being mistaken for a sellout, I chose my friends carefully. The more politically active black students. The foreign students. The Chicanos. The Marxist professors and structural feminists." ...From his self-glorifying memoir, "Dreams From My Father".

"Real Americans": hard-working, tax-paying, American citizen who would NEVER, unlike michelle, give America a one-finger salute by saying: "For the FIRST TIME in my life I am proud of my country."

Every Real American should be afraid, very afraid of hussein''''s plans to socialize America by RE-DISTRUBUTING YOUR WEALTH to his "friends".

Reject this shallow, arrogant, platitude-spouting, inexperienced, Marxist, drug-addicted, elitist, narcissistic, flip-flopping gas-bag who is so mentally deficient from extensive drug use he even has to plagiarize his hollow platitudes.

Instead, vote for somebody who will reform the Washington mess - instead of making it an even more horrific monster.

Loony-Left,

We are about to end 8 years of the Loony-Right,

You comments insinuate that
- Politically Active Black Students are not Real Americans
-That foreign students are not Real Americans
-That Chicanos are not Real Americans
-That in a land of FREEDOM that Marxist Professors and Structural Feminists are not Real Americans

The only thing that your post has proven is that you%u2019re a Real Dumb@s$!

[msboo61]

Obama will be President whether you or any one else as ignorant as you likes it. Obama is not getting on the air acting like a big baby like McCain. You probably voted for Bush and helped him steal those votes out of Florida which happened to be a state where a Bush was in charge. Mmm those silly political games that use to happen are now over!!!!!
Don''t hate participate for change

[idnnsg]

The NRO, like all the repukes at this time, is DESPERATE. The have nothing but FAILURE, so they resort to wild accusations and LIES. It will not work.

McCain is a very sick, grumpy and erratic old man with very poor judgement. Case in point: Bimbo Sarah Palin. Case 2: fake "suspending his campaign", FAILING to get a deal on the bailout, claiming credit for the bailout that didn''t happen, then bashing the bailout that did happen, then taking credit for it, then bashing it, etc. Case 3: "Joe the Plumber"-- his name isn''t "Joe", he''s not a licensed plumber, he had no real plan to buy the business, the business would pay less taxes under Obama than McCain, and he hasn''t paid the taxes he does owe, and "Joe, the ''Average Guy''" is NO average guy-- he has a Hollywood deal in the works and his 15 minutes of fame is OVER. Case 3: isn''t that enough? McCain is the biggest flip-flopper of all time. Every day he contradicts something he previously stood firmly by, as does Palin. What a pair!

How do you counter such failure? LIE about the opponent! So that''s what the NRO does every day.

[troutfisher4]

Oh, and he is actually the reincarnation of Attila the Hun.

Or maybe Adolph Hitler in disguise.

Oh oh, he is SATAN.


Yeah, that''s the ticket.

[hypnotoad72]

http://weblog.infoworld.com/realitycheck/archives/2008/02/the_three_presi.html

Reality check. Why should I trust Obama?

[nearl4511]

We really know the REAL NRO, don''t we?

[kansas1946]

Reject this shallow, arrogant, platitude-spouting, inexperienced, Marxist, drug-addicted, elitist, narcissistic, flip-flopping gas-bag who is so mentally deficient from extensive drug use he even has to plagiarize his hollow platitudes.

Instead, vote for somebody who will reform the Washington mess - instead of making it an even more horrific monster.

Loony-Left,

*************************************

You just don''t get it. This is why you are losing. Since you are so obsessed with Obama''s drug use when he was very young, a teenager, I imagine that you didn''t vote for Bush. A drunk and drug abuser until he was forty years old and found Jesus.

At least Obama had the good sense as a younster to put down the drugs and pick up his education. This sort of political rhetoric will shrink the Republican party to nothing.

[Scooter68]

"You comments insinuate that...That foreign students are not Real Americans" - Yep that would be correct.
Hard to be an Real American when you are a citizen of another country - cause that''s the definition of "Foreign" OR have you decided to re-write the definition of foreign.

[eroosevelt08]

George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin were all radicals. Thank heaven they were on our side! The candidate with the most votes will win. So, Stanley Kurtz, that means he will not be a radical to those who vote for him.

[eroosevelt08]

In the last eight years poor leadership has created a big mess. Senator Obama is well aware of the mess. A President needs to know what the issues are, know how to negotiate and find and convince quality people to work with and beside him with the skill sets needed in each particular area. When I look at the candidates, Senator Obama has all of those qualities while Senator McCain does not. Senator McCain talks of fighting while Senator Obama talks about working together. With Senator Obama there seems to be hope again. America needs that.

[m8143]

I''m not voting for a lying lover of terrorists, who has A religious leader who curses in church. I hope HE d,a.m,n.s. YOU!!!

[shmaverick]

Stanley Kurtz is well known for his exaggerated, unsubstantiated, sweeping and paranoid pronouncements like this one above: "Obama has shamelessly used Alinskyite %u201Cdirect action%u201D to silence and intimidate political foes during the current campaign (a matter well-known to conservatives, yet little noted by the mainstream press)." Really? What, when and how? No evidence. This scurrilous and slanderous fantasy that Obama presents a threat to free speech has been repeated mindlessly by the likes of Sarah Palin and the talking heads of Fox News (where Kurtz is welcome to pronounce on all kinds of matters, unchallenged). It''s clear that Kurtz and his right-wing friends are frightened by any version of events that wasn''t manufactured in their alternate universe, in which inconvenient facts are simply ignored, and convenient ones--no matter how fabricated, selective, or out-of-context--are endlessly repeated. Fox News can live out this fantasy world all it wants--we sure don''t need it in the White House, after 8 ruinous years of it.

[shmaverick]

Stanley Kurtz is well known for his exaggerated, unsubstantiated, sweeping and paranoid pronouncements like this one above: "Obama has shamelessly used Alinskyite %u201Cdirect action%u201D to silence and intimidate political foes during the current campaign (a matter well-known to conservatives, yet little noted by the mainstream press)." Really? What, when and how? No evidence. This scurrilous and slanderous fantasy that Obama presents a threat to free speech has been repeated mindlessly by the likes of Sarah Palin and the talking heads of Fox News (where Kurtz is welcome to pronounce on all kinds of matters, unchallenged). It''s clear that Kurtz and his right-wing friends are frightened by any version of events that wasn''t manufactured in their alternate universe, in which inconvenient facts are simply ignored, and convenient ones--no matter how fabricated, selective, or out-of-context--are endlessly repeated. Fox News can live out this fantasy world all it wants--we sure don''t need it in the White House, after 8 ruinous years of it.

[aakalan]

Mr. Kurtz... Stanley:

I am taking great pleasure in seeing you flail around like this. You and your magazine and your neo-con movement have been (or will shortly be) totally repudiated by the American people in an unmistakable message on Election Day.

Really frosts you, doesn''t it? :-)

But I also enjoy seeing that your childish temper-tantrum has not prevented your normal irrationality from coming to the fore.

You have the unmitigated nerve to bash Obama for his association with Khalidi, when your own candidate has an infinitely closer (not to mention more expensive: $832,000) association with the same man? I always thought you neo-cons were baically evil. Until now, I didn''t realize that you were also stupid.

One blessed byproduct of the election of Obama as President is that it will marginialize you and your ilk.

Go, Obama!

[catlady1412]

Hmmm, I worked at reading this article but I thought it was a bit incoherent and my mind wandered. See, I am one of those oddballs who does not think that pure capitalism, pure socialism or pure communism work by themselves. Each of these economic systems has fatal flaws. We saw the flaw in unchecked capitalism when the economy started crashing this year. We know that communism takes away the motivation for the workers to work for others selflessly while the ones in power live in luxury (wait, we saw that here too what with all us drones working to pay for gas in our cars and the Big Oil jerks living high on the hog). Socialism has a similar flaw where people won''t work so hard if they don''t reap the rewards and it always converts to communism in the end. China is slowly converting to capitalism as is Cuba. We have the best system in the world, Capitalism with checks and balances and oversight, although Bush tried to dismantle that. As for all the names Kurtz is dropping as radical associations, I notice most of them are academics and college professors. Of course, they have radical left-leaning ideas! They think for a living! That can get you into all kinds of trouble!

[omnibus66]

Some children came to my door on Halloween wearing the most scary costumes I had ever seem.

The were dressed as Republicans!

[mopar1956]

Its about time a major news station printed the truth.

The sad part is that America would rather elect a president that is not even an American and the only interests he has is making us a weak country.

It is true that over the history of the world that the powerful nations fell from with-in.

We are on our way. This election will be the down fall.

[catlady1412]

mopar1956, I couldn''t agree more! This election will be this country''s downfall if McSame and his Bimbo Barbie win! They are weak and un-American, calling names instead of discussing issues.