Larry Gude
Strung Out
...is, as you know if you actually care what Alinsky was really about, a guidebook for the weak to combat the strong. It's useful for people like Obama or Trump or anyone attempting to over come very powerful resistance.
What it is NOT is a rule book for what to do when you have power. Some, like Trump, once the goal is achieved, immediately shift to the task of achieving goals that they sought power for in the first place. The rules were a tool to get somewhere. Others, like Obama who really only sought power to have it, who did little to nothing with it, will tend to struggle sort of like Ahab who, once they have their whale, don't have the first clue as to what to do with it. For them, it was about the chase, not the catch. The rules are the thing.
This is my working theory for what Obama is about these days, what he is working on and why. This, simply put, is what he knows; how to achieve power. it is also my working theory for what the D's are up to. Obama wiped the party out because he didn't have much of a plan or ideas of what to do once he had power. The party, serving him, withered. Now, what is left, is the hard core leftists who innately look at things as he does; the resistance, the struggle, the fight; NOT what to do WITH power.
This is a double edged problem because for those people the marches and demonstrations, the witty insults and clever outrage are THE point, not winning the next election. All the practical people in the party lost their seats and Obama had long enough to put his kind of people, true believers, in power behind the scenes. So, there is no mechanism, no adults if you will, to give the wake up calls, to point out that all the outrage and emotion is not only NOT harming Trump, it is helping him and, even if there are a few seats to be won, all the things said about Trump won't prove out because they were never based on reason, only emotion so, Trump himself will be all too happy to deal with whomever wins.
So, there is the recipe for irrationally despising someone and doing everything you can to defeat him, in your mind, while in reality simply making them stronger.
What it is NOT is a rule book for what to do when you have power. Some, like Trump, once the goal is achieved, immediately shift to the task of achieving goals that they sought power for in the first place. The rules were a tool to get somewhere. Others, like Obama who really only sought power to have it, who did little to nothing with it, will tend to struggle sort of like Ahab who, once they have their whale, don't have the first clue as to what to do with it. For them, it was about the chase, not the catch. The rules are the thing.
This is my working theory for what Obama is about these days, what he is working on and why. This, simply put, is what he knows; how to achieve power. it is also my working theory for what the D's are up to. Obama wiped the party out because he didn't have much of a plan or ideas of what to do once he had power. The party, serving him, withered. Now, what is left, is the hard core leftists who innately look at things as he does; the resistance, the struggle, the fight; NOT what to do WITH power.
This is a double edged problem because for those people the marches and demonstrations, the witty insults and clever outrage are THE point, not winning the next election. All the practical people in the party lost their seats and Obama had long enough to put his kind of people, true believers, in power behind the scenes. So, there is no mechanism, no adults if you will, to give the wake up calls, to point out that all the outrage and emotion is not only NOT harming Trump, it is helping him and, even if there are a few seats to be won, all the things said about Trump won't prove out because they were never based on reason, only emotion so, Trump himself will be all too happy to deal with whomever wins.
So, there is the recipe for irrationally despising someone and doing everything you can to defeat him, in your mind, while in reality simply making them stronger.