Readers Respond

OBAMAANDALINSKY I read President Obama’s political character structure to be essentially the same as that of Rabbi Lerner’s—despite Obama’s Nobel Prize speech and his stance on Afghanistan. Then how do I explain his recent positions on the war and how to deal with perceived threats? Obama was elected for a term of four years. He knows that he cannot possibly leave the imprint that he desires to leave on the American political structure and on the thinking of the American people in four years, but maybe he can in eight. Therefore he must constantly keep in mind—in the background of all his significant decisions—how not to imperil the next presidential election. Saul Alinsky, from the grave, taught him that when you first (and for some time) face a disparate and partially hostile group, you must be very careful not to confront its members with ideas and positions that will offend them and make them anxious . You are bound to lose them. So initially and for some time you may not profess action or a way of thinking too removed from what they can accept. If you keep this strategy— which Obama has studied and worked with before entering politics —in mind, then we can understand that what appears to be a shift thing a president can control is the vision he projects in the country, and so far, Obama has strengthened the worldview of the militarists by his endorsement of the “war on terror” and the notion that the violence of war can be justified even when there is no immediate threat (from Taliban Afghans) and no popular call from the people of Afghanistan for us to escalate violence. And with his call for nuclear power plants, offshore drilling, and “clean coal,” Obama has strengthened the hands of the polluters . And with his rejection of “Medicare for All” and his embrace of deals with pharmaceutical firms and health insurance companies … well, the list goes on and on. APROGRESSIVETHIRDPARTY In the Tikkun articles you published back when President Clinton took office, and then again when LETTERS from his earlier positions is really a strategy to permit him to pursue his true beliefs during a second term in office. If my analysis of his strategy is correct, it remains to be seen whether it will work. Louis Getoff Sedona, AZ Michael Lerner replies: It’swellknowninprogressive circles that Saul Alinsky’s great strength in organizing in Chicago was also his great weakness: he organized white people around their self-interests as narrowly defined within the existing social order and never challenged their racism. These same people, once organized, were able to be an effective force against Blacks moving into their neighborhoods . Alinsky-style organizing avoids ideology, and that is its great weakness —a weakness now reflected in Obama. What presidents can do is shape the ideas of a given historical period, and if they do not do so, they end up strengthening the existing set of ideas that come from the powerful and their servants in the media, the schools and universities, the Congress , and the various state legislatures . No president can guarantee passage of his or her program—the one ANOTEONLETTERSTOTHEEDITOR: We welcome your responses to our articles. Send your letters to the editor to Letters@Tikkun.org. Pleaseremember,however,nottoattributetoTikkunviewsotherthanthoseexpressedinoureditorials . We email, post, and print many articles with which we have strong disagreements, because that is what makes Tikkun a location for a true diversity of ideas. Tikkun reserves the right to edit your letters to fit available space in the magazine. Readers Respond M A R C H / A P R I L 2 0 1 0 W W W. T I K K U N . O R G T I K K U N 3 Thanks for all your letters! We receive many more than we can print. Go to www.tikkun.org/letters for an expanded version of this issue’s letters, including readers’ responses to our interview with CongressmanKeithEllisononhealthcare; to Harriet Fraad’s analysis of why Americans are depressed and politically passive ; to Daniel Brook’s piece on vegetarianism, Judaism, and the planet’s future; to Riane Eisler’s article on...