Thanks for the links.

The fact Obama stuck at it for the length of time he did on the meager salary given to him speaks volumes to me about the man's character. He notes that there were “some successes” but I get the impression that he wishes that somehow he could have done more.

It seems a bit ironic comparing H.W. Bush's remarks back then to the current debate going on now with the Palin/Obama rift.

By the way, if you're interested I also stumbled across a US News & World Report article from 2007 that could complement the NewsWeek article:

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/0708…

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/geor…

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/campaignmatters/…

What I see from this: he did a lot of good things, he was a kid just out of college trying to do something to help his community, and it's obviously not his most recent or significant experience as far as being qualified for the presidency. I think it's significant also that he hadn't even entered law school, and he most certainly wasn't running for any office at this time — which pretty much debunks Gulianni's assertion that he was doing it to buy votes.

No hard feelings. Like you, I would prefer to talk about his work since his community organizing days, but I was just curious about the work he did do. My vote would certainly not be swayed by the outcome–I just had a few thoughts of my own that I couldn't seem to find any answers to.

jeez…so much for just asking.

Of course I care because Obama uses that as experience. If Palin was out there trotting out saying that her sportscasting in some way qualified as experience, then by all means let's examine it. Let's examine it anyway, just for the fun of it. What did it gain her?

Get a grip Chris; I'm just asking what I thought were some relevant questions. I wouldn't have asked otherwise. They still stand, unless they don't warrant any honest discourse.

Do you care about Sarah Palin's performance as a sportscaster? How about John McCain endlessly crashing navy planes?

“The group had some success, but Barack had come to realize that in order to truly improve the lives of people in that community and other communities, it would take not just a change at the local level, but a change in our laws and in our politics.”

http://www.barackobama.com/learn/meet_barack.php

So are the people he went there to help any better off now than what they were when he began?

I certainly applaud his work in this regard, but I just want to know what exactly happened as a result of his work.

Which, of course, failed among the intelligent to evade the real issue, that Palin has executive experience, not only as a mayor, but as a _governor_

Not like Republicans have bothered mentioning any of the things Obama has done after being a community organizer. McCain was lying just last week when he said that Obama had not offered up any bipartisan legislation, or any major legislation at all.

Pontius had Execution experience all right.

and Palin's Pentecostal proslytizing gleefully pontificates on Alaska being a “refuge” for the End Times;;

Do we really need a religious wacko a heartbeat away? Someone eager to push the button while she sits in a cabin on the North Slope with her Seccessionist buddies? That kind of Executive experience?

Check her stumping for these yahoos as Executive majestrix Mayor of Wasilla:

http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=naXqE4dTxPA

Is that before or after the Mud Flats run black with oil….

Word.

Now he (with no executive experience, unlike Palin, and little in Washington) is touted (Biden is clumsily ignored) as “the one with experience.”

In all fairness, it is interesting that you “clumsily ignored” John McCain's lack of executive experience in that same thread of thought.

There are enough difference between the actual candidates for President, Barack Obama and McCain, than to spend time on non-issues such as these. Our last Governor-turned-President was George Bush. Is this really a line that the Republican Party wants to encourage?

Which, of course, failed among the intelligent to evade the real issue, that Palin has executive experience, not only as a mayor, but as a _governor_, the most relevent kind of experience for someone in a leadership position in the executive branch of the federal government, the kind of experience of which Obama has none — “ZERO.”

Obama has been touted as having as an _asset_ that he is inexperienced in Congress, that he is not a fixture or establishment figure there — until the selection of Palin by McCain for Vice President. Now he (with no executive experience, unlike Palin, and little in Washington) is touted (Biden is clumsily ignored) as “the one with experience.” Poof! Another Obama campaign reversal of position presents itself.

To answer Mark Daniels's question _and_ the core issue: Next time, the instigator of attacks, the Obama campaign and the liberal media, should remember that the other side is free to rightly retaliate.

To the vast majority of Americans, a community organizer is a political hack who sells victimhood for yearly installment payments of votes. Why is it that democrats have trouble realizing the image they are dealing with?

Don’t bother with tales of heroic selflessness of community organizers you’ve known and loved through the years. This comment deals only with the public image, not the reality.

Republicans were happy to take their swipe at community organizers in response to the democrat’s diss of small town mayorship. If people believe that they can make community organizers into a positive image, the right will roll out a tribute to the more famous ones – Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. This is the image Barack has fought to avoid.

We have a dichotomy- a candidate who has been working for the people, and a candidate who has been working the people over.

JSpence- that is a great quote. One would add lobbyists and special interests to that list, I think.

“Preach a crusade against ignorance.
Let our countrymen know,
that the people alone can protect us against the evils of kings,
priests, and nobles who will rise up among us,
if we leave the people in ignorance”

One of my good Canadian friends suggested that many outside the country will interpret a republican victory this fall as the symptom of a nation in decline. I suppose that's obvious enough to those who have maintained their objectivity and awareness over the years, and it correlates with my own view of this election as being a sort of national IQ test. (another one)