The Bob Herbert Countdown!

David Weigel | September 4, 2008

Since the theme of the night became "small town mayor" versus "community organizer" (cue laugh track), what's the over/under on Bob Herbert—or a similar, earnestness-spurting liberal columnist—making the argument that this is racial code for which the GOP must be shame, shame, shamed? Does it happen today? Tomorrow? Do we have to wait for the Sunday papers?

It didn't occur to me at first, because I associate "community organizer" with "trust fund-happy college grad" more than I associate it with "ex-Black Panther," and I associate "small town mayor" with "season three of Buffy the Vampire Slayer." But there was a mini-eruption when the RNC called Obama a "street organizer," so the subliminals are all there, ready to be plucked.

Comments

|9.4.08 @ 7:23AM|#

Mayor Richard Wilkins of Sunnydale! Fantastic reference, though I now feel horrible that I know that.

It subliminally indicated to me that I need a life.

|9.4.08 @ 7:55AM|#

Watching Buffy is nothing to be ashamed of. If you ever immediately recognize a That's So Raven reference, on the other hand, then a deep and abiding shame is your only option.

Raphael|9.4.08 @ 8:38AM|#

"I associate community organizer with trust fund-happy college grad

Sounds like a job for you, Weigel. I could just see you with something like "Community Organizer" on your resume and actually think it was something to brag about.

|9.4.08 @ 8:40AM|#

Dave, you have to realize you just jinxed yourself. It won't happen now.

|9.4.08 @ 8:43AM|#

I predict at least 50 gender cards played by Republicans today for every race card played by the Obama campaign.

Potts|9.4.08 @ 9:51AM|#

Smug disdain for community organizing, or smug disdain for taking a job on Wall Street? I'm having a hard time deciding which one to give my vote to.

dhex|9.4.08 @ 10:30AM|#

Since the theme of the night became "small town mayor" versus "community organizer" (cue laugh track)

it didn't strike me at the time, but it may very well be code for something. i tend to associate the term with "frazzled people with clipboards" myself.

|9.4.08 @ 10:31AM|#

The real negative about all of this discussion about mayoral duties and community organization is not that the candidates have them, it's that now all the mayors and community organizers think that they, too, can be president.

I'm sure that that won't lead to any more petty abuse of power at all. Ever.

Rhywun|9.4.08 @ 10:44AM|#

I'm not seeing it. I know all it takes is one hypersensitive outsider to drop a comment and the media swoop in and make a little storm out of it--but like you said it already happened with "street organizer". The media aren't stupid enough to roll with something equally innocuous. (laugh track)

|9.4.08 @ 11:08AM|#

I predict at least 50 gender cards played by Republicans today for every race card played by the Obama campaign.

You're probably right, if by "Obama campaign" you mean statements on Obama letterhead. Obama surrogates, though? I predict a storm of gender v. race plays that no sane person would want to score.

|9.4.08 @ 12:31PM|#

What the heck does a "community organizer" do?
Or, more specifically, what did Obama do?
Hasn't someone been dispatched to Chicago to find out? Was it admirable work, like working with Habitat for Humanity to get community and business support? Was it pressuring slumlords to adhere to health and safety codes? Was it agitating for more welfare handouts?

|9.4.08 @ 12:39PM|#

Creech,

One thing he did was work to get asbestos out of public housing units.

There's a story about his community organizing work in the latest TNR.

|9.4.08 @ 1:03PM|#

Creech, good question. A question that the "professional" journalists should have asked and answered.
By the fact they haven't tells you something.
Reports from the net, nothing changed. The community was a slum when BO arrived and still a slum when he left.
Part of the MSM coverup/campagin for BO in action.

|9.4.08 @ 1:49PM|#

I like my beer cold, my TV loud, and my community disorganized.

zebra|9.4.08 @ 3:34PM|#

Does that mean a "city planner" is white, but a "street planner" is black?