The tenth rule: The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition.
The eleventh rule is: If you push a negative hard and deep enough it will break through into its counterside; this is based on the principle that every positive has its negative...
The twelfth rule: The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative. you cannot risk being trapped by the enemy in his sudden agreement with your demand and saying "You're right--we don't know what to do about this issue. Now you tell us."
The thirteenth rule: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.What are the Obama rules?
To date, they have been based on an appeal for unity, for a move beyond conflict. But clearly there have been three "enemies".
1. Clintons.
2. Republicans.
3. The special interests.
It is 3. that is of most interest. When Obama is President, the rubber meets the road. He will have polished off 1. and 2. within the formal parameters of Presidential politics, where one is expected to oppose and where, this year, being above the fray and a unifier pays the most dividends.
But when we get to 3., what weapons will Obama have?
If I am not mistaken, he will have a small army of trained organizers and eventually a growing army of Americans who are brought up through his college money-national service trade-off. If we can take the citizenship of former Peace Corps participants as an indication, we are about to see the formation of a new greatest generation.
I had thought that this swing in the pendulum would not occur until about 2020. I now think that the fruits of the labors to come will perhaps be realized by then. That would seem about right.
So:
The clear lesson that even Hillary saw as a Wellesley thesis-writer is that community organizing cannot do the job alone -- governance is needed. Give her that. Barack Obama saw the same thing, having played a much more active organizing role in a somewhat different environment than Alinsky encountered in The Woodlawn Organization (TWO) days of the 1960s. And he is now creating a TRIPLE SYNTHESIS.
Born in NYC, attended Oberlin & Trinity Schools, then Exeter and Williams (Phi Beta Kappa 1958). Worked with the Reverend James Robinson, finished Union Theological Seminary in NYC (1961). Joined Student Interracial Ministry in Nashville. Founded Renewal Magazine in Chicago, served The Christian Century and Christianity Crisis magazines. Covered civil rights in Oxford, Birmingham and Selma. Interviewed Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X. My book The Grass Roots Church had impact on the ecumenical movement. Have authored some 15 books, been a house-husband and father of three wonderful (grown) children. I have written published music choral and popular. Most recently I served in UN agencies including UNICEF in NYC and edited CHOICES which was the flagship magazine of UNDP.
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