Community organizing

It seems like the right wing of the political spectrum is interested in trivializing the work of community organizing. (I’m not linking to their pieces, since I don’t want to drive traffic there, but just check out Powerline, or the NRO Corner, or FutureRight). So here’s a compelling short history, and a great, short photo series of community organizing. And from the wikipedia, a concise description of Sen. Obama’s achievements in his early years as a community organizer:

After four years in New York City, Obama moved to Chicago to work as a community organizer for three years from June 1985 to May 1988 as director of the Developing Communities Project (DCP), a church-based community organization originally comprising eight Catholic parishes in Greater Roseland (Roseland, West Pullman, and Riverdale) on Chicago's far South Side. During his three years as the DCP's director, its staff grew from 1 to 13 and its annual budget grew from $70,000 to $400,000, with accomplishments including helping set up a job training program, a college preparatory tutoring program, and a tenants' rights organization in Altgeld Gardens.[citations are hyperlinked in the actual entry]

How many 20-something kids do you know, who have accomplished so much?

And don't forget the meme circulating around my little corner of the blogosphere: "Jesus was a community organizer, Pontius Pilate was a governor."