Q & A

Service Changes People’s Character

Jerry Kellman, Barack Obama's supervisor during the candidate's days as a community organizer, talks about the attacks from the Republican Convention—and the vital role organizers play.

Newsweek Web Exclusive
Sep 5, 2008 | Updated: 8:17  p.m. ET Sep 5, 2008

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  • Posted By: trythetruth @ 09/20/2008 1:23:52 PM

    ONE WORD: ACORN.

    VOTER REGISTRATION FRAUD!!!!!

  • Posted By: willnotvoteobama @ 09/18/2008 8:09:45 AM

    YEP OBAMA AND ALL HIS HOLLYWOOD FREINDS WERE EATING KOBE BEEF AND LOBSTER WHILE MOST OF AMERICA'S FOOD BUDGET HAS BEEN REDUCED BECAUSE OF HIGH GAS PRICES! WE ARE NOW EATING HAMBURGER HELPER AND HOT DOGS, MAC AND CHEESE... WHILE HOLLY WOOD IS SIPPING FINE WINE AND EATING 28,000-DOLLAR PLATES AND PAYING 2,500 FOR CONCERT TICKETS BUT DON'T FEEL THAT OBAMA IS OUT OF TOUCH WITH YOU Middle America HE FEELS YOUR PAIN! I WONDER IF WE COULD GET HOLLYWOOD TO HOLD A FUNDRAISER TO HELP SOME FAMILIES TO PAY FOR A FUEL BILL OR MAYBE SOME FOOD? WHAT DO YOU THINK AMERICA WILL THE HOLLYWOOD ELITE DO IT? OR DO THEY ONLY PAY THAT KIND OF MONEY TO HELP ELITIST FREIND! I WONDER HOW MUCH WAS THE OBAMA FAMILIES PERSONAL FOOD BILL LAST MONTH? OR HOW MUCH DID THEY HAVE TO SPEND ON GAS?

  • Posted By: tiredoflies @ 09/06/2008 6:00:39 PM

    How can the media learn more about Palin when she is being kept and protected from the media like some little immature kid?

    As a mayor she SAYS SHE had some responsibilities, as a VP candidate she surely DOES NOT.


    • Posted By: lexi97701 @ 09/17/2008 11:06:30 AM

      Did you know she hired an office adminstrative manager to take care of many of those responsibilities!? Yep. It was on CNN's portrait of her...

    • Posted By: TEACHER1019 @ 09/07/2008 11:52:48 AM

      The republicans are being quite sexiest. They are treating her like a helpless female. As a woman, I would be insulted.

  • Posted By: tiredoflies @ 09/06/2008 6:07:52 PM

    If the republicans win the election in November, they are going to be very happy campers. Normal.

    Then, shortly thereafter, reality will set in. Those well off republicans will be happy for the next four or eight years. They will enjoy life paying for whatever they want.

    But what about the republicans who aren???t so well off? Those that will struggle to pay their rent or mortgage payments, fill their tanks, pay for health care and even buy their favorite foods and all the other things that goes with the cost of living. Having been there, I will really feel sorry for them. Yes, many democrats will be there too.

    But, at the same time I will feel a great sense of justice knowing they are experiencing the effects of their own votes to put McCain in office and that I, as well as all democrats, did not contribute to their plight. They will NOT be able to have whatever they want or perhaps even what they need while their well off counterparts will. One thing they will have though and at no extra cost. That is their memory of the lies, distortions, and hate spewed by their rich republican counterparts against a very intelligent Harvard law School graduate and State and US Senator who wanted nothing more than to make the country prosperous, NOT just the well off, but for them as well. I hope they can live on that because, just like during the last eight years, the well off republicans wont give a damn about them.

    What they, and all of us, will have is just MORE OF THE SAME . . . .
    or perhaps, something even worse. And even if you like Palin, she is NOT the decision and policy maker, McCain is.


    One thing is for certain:

    After November 4th, there can be buyer???s remorse but there can???t be any going back.

    • Posted By: SmallTownAmerican @ 09/06/2008 7:02:02 PM

      Interesting comments you've made but I must point out that the wealth demographic is a little misrepresented. You see when you look at the wealth of Democrats as compared to the wealth of Republicans the scale leans quite a bit toward the Democrat party. You can check the numbers yourself. This is from Wall Street Journal article, Wealth Report, July 24, 2007, "The new rich, it seems, have increasingly become Democrats. As donors, they are giving more money to Democrats than Republicans. As voters, the super rich are leaning left.

      Now that said, it is true that because most large cities, where a high number of low income folks live, it appears to be the reverse but isn't.

      • Posted By: lexi97701 @ 09/17/2008 11:04:27 AM

        And they're still willing to tax the folks making above 250K, Imagine that! To help the little guys, they're willing to take a hit. Not so republicans!

      • Posted By: TEACHER1019 @ 09/07/2008 11:49:34 AM

        YOUR POINT

  • Posted By: SmallTownAmerican @ 09/06/2008 6:50:57 PM

    Even with the kind of "find out what people want/need and get the government give it to them" responsibilities described here I'm still not seeing how that makes community organizer a preparatory position for President of the United States.
    Since this is the main resume item, with some time in legislation ,making it look like the arguments about thin experience could be correct. Comparing and contrasting candidates is what it's all about now and I'm just not sure people are seeing any real asset with Senator Obama's limited public service accomplishments.

    • Posted By: Thinking American Voter @ 09/06/2008 9:45:33 PM

      SmallTownAmerican: where did you get that community organizing is the "main resume item?" This is what he did after he completed college. It's significant in telling us who he is and who he is working for. But don't minimize his work as a legislator, or, I think equally significantly, his years as a constitutional law professor. A president who is an expert regarding the U.S. Constitution -- go figure.

      • Posted By: lexi97701 @ 09/17/2008 11:00:18 AM

        Right, cause I'd really like a lying, cheating team that thinks we should continue relying on drilling for oil, making the rich richer , punishes victims (Palin in Wasilla had victims paying for their own rape kits while she manages to push the need for a new sports complex thereby putting Wasilla deep into debt )and later installs a tanning bed in the governors mansion and carts her family around Alaska to see sled dog racing). Oh, and by the way, would I rather have a smart president who works with others instead of firing everyone he disagrees with, over a couple of shot first ask questions later types that came in 5th from the bottom of their graduating class or went to 5 schools before they could manage to graduate and become a sports caster? YOU BETHCHA I WOULD! WE ALL SHOULD!

  • Posted By: lexi97701 @ 09/17/2008 10:52:27 AM

    AMEN elouis! Well said!

  • Posted By: willnotvoteobama @ 09/17/2008 7:54:15 AM

    i remember when hilary tried everything to knock obama down even the kitchen sink and it did not work! now the obama camp is trying everything including the kitchen sink on palin and its not working ! she gets bigger crowds at her rallies and he gets small ones his ego is crushed and he is worried that he will lose the white house ! and he should be ! McCAIN / PALIN 08 ! >>>>>>>>>> OBAMA / BIDEN BACK TO THE SENATE !
    as history suggests issues of policy will ultimately trump the politics of identity. obama is all about who he is and nothing about what he has done ! McCain is all about what he has done not who he is ! the choice is clear !

  • Posted By: MikeKinFla @ 09/17/2008 1:52:02 AM

    I find it hysterical that even Barack Obamas supervisor Jerry Kellman can't explain what Barack did as a "community organizer" He talked, he listened... but he achieved nothing?

  • Posted By: MikeKinFla @ 09/17/2008 1:37:00 AM

    Who could forget the countrys most loveable "community organizer" the Rev Al Sharpton. These non-elected self-proclaimed community leaders are something most decent communities do without. These floaters found a way to apply for federal grant money to pocket and pass some around making a name for themselves.

  • Posted By: willnotvoteobama @ 09/16/2008 7:46:00 AM

    BREAKING NEWS ............Obama taps Barbra Streisand

  • Posted By: willnotvoteobama @ 09/13/2008 10:27:14 AM

    It is difficult to understand Obama???s claim to ???good judgment.??? When has any modern major party presidential nominee so frequently changed his positions on so many important issues or blamed his staff for so many problems? If Obama can???t consistently hold positions on important issues, how can he claim that he has such good judgment? Possibly Obama can come up with some other way of showing "good judgment," but so far he hasn't succeeded using the standards that he wants to be judged by.

  • Posted By: TruthForward @ 09/08/2008 8:17:12 PM

    Comment: This is what POWs say about McCain. In their own words.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KjsEs46C70

  • Posted By: HolyRoller @ 09/08/2008 7:29:19 AM

    Nobody is mocking community organizers in church basements and community centers across the country working to improve their neighbors??? lives. What deserves ridicule is the notion that Obama???s brief stint as a South Side rabble-rouser for tax-subsidized, partisan nonprofits qualifies as executive experience you can believe in.

    What deserves derision is "community organizing" that relies on a community of homeless people and ex-cons to organize for the purpose of registering dead people to vote, shaking down corporations and using the race card as a bludgeon.

    And Jesus was not a community organizer. He is the Messiah. Hussein Obama's NOT.

    NOBAMA!!!

  • Posted By: Rinnovato @ 09/07/2008 9:36:31 AM

    I knew Barack from back in Chicago when I was layed off. I was hurt so back by how out of toucht he Republicans are with the need to community coming together to help eachother. Republicans believe that Government isnt there to help people, and it shows in their beliefs about community organizers. But let me tell you,,, Barack changed my life. I was a high school drop out who worked for U.S. Steel for 15 years. Barack quietly lift me up, encouraged me to go back to school and tirelessly helped me found a job. Because of Barack Obama, I know hold a bachelors degree in Business from Robert Morris College in Chicago; I am earning $65,000 a year working for an outstanding company for 10 years now, and my wife and I just bought our first home. No other candidate for President understands people, their emotional disconnection from their government and how to lift people out of their situation to make them greater than they were yesterday. Trust me. Barack Obama is the person we need to change the mindset of our nation and to bring us into the next century. Changing our mindset toward technology, energy and education. We will make American anew, just as he made thousands of us here in Chicago. DO NOT under-estimate this man.

  • Posted By: 1HouTexan @ 09/06/2008 2:27:33 AM

    It seems very clear to me what Senator McCain and members of his team are trying to do by selecting a Governor Palin as a running mate. He is using this selection as a distraction to overlook his ties and connections to President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. President Bush - who has done more harm to this country than any president in modern history.
    Do not be fooled. If he can get people to feel that this election is a battle between the sexes, the races, rural vs. urban, or even the rich vs. the poor, then no one will realize that Senator McCain does not have one single plan on how to deal with the economy! Also, he speaks about the importance of us winning the war in Iraq. Just what will a win look like? Has he explained that? What exactly is his exit strategy for us getting out of this war ? I recall President Bush giving at least 3 very different reasons for us to go to war. And to make matters worse, Iraq is even asking us for a timetable to leave their country. Senator McCain has one stance. He was a POW, and he "knows how to win a war!" What war has he led us to win? This time, we will not allow the Republican party to exploit our values, or the differences in Americans to forge a victory for two poorly qualified candidates. Too much is at stake.High unemployment, high gasoline prices, unaffordable college tuition costs, record high foreclosures, volatile stock market, etc. The real threat to our national security is the Republican party. It's time for us to unite and vote for Obama & Biden this election year.

    Obama/Biden '08
    Yes We Can!
    because Sarah Palin/John Mc-Cain't & never will.

    • Posted By: PASC @ 09/07/2008 7:44:21 AM

      YES! Finally, someone points out the most important question about the war: how the heck is "victory" defined? I am amazed that NO ONE in the MSM or elsewhere is asking this question. Obama answers it, but he doesn't use the friggin' words needed to reach the simple-minded, sound-bite folks who get lost in his rhetoric.

      I think the man is truly great, but his entire campaign desparately needs to lower the bar to the level of the dumb ones who are so easily taken in by Republican lies, avoidance and oversimplification.

  • Posted By: Liv54 @ 09/07/2008 1:24:07 AM

    The Republican convention was small. They have no answers; no new ideas of their own so they must insult Obama in a personal way to take the focus off the issues. Contrary to their talking points he has an impressive resume and I was offended at their attempts to sneer and belittle. It only pushed me further in his corner and gave me less respect for McCain - a man I once thought I might like to vote for.

  • Posted By: wildlifeusa @ 09/07/2008 12:11:13 AM

    9/11 and religion...... What is the connection? There are the answers. Please pass it on...
    http://propagandameatgrinder.magnify.net/video/Zeitgeist-s-hrvatskim-titlom/theater#theater_title

  • Posted By: elouis @ 09/06/2008 7:34:22 PM

    What kind of person wants to be President of America in the crazy world in which we live?

    Let's stop making a mockery out of American politics. If Palin, like Obama, McCain and Biden, can convince the American people that she is ready to be VP, all well and good. But at this point, the attention she is getting is because people are still in shock, that McCain would even consider her for the VP spot. She's got a lot to prove to Americans and perhaps, even to herself. I found it insulting to America when I saw that sign at the RNC that read "McCain & Superwoman". Are the Republicans really that desperate to think that they can win this election with such nonsense?

    Obama really has made his case to the American people over the past 24 months. His books have been a refreshing kind of revelation to the public, without our having to "investigate" the information out of him. His case has been clear and compelling, this is why he is the Democratic nominee. His experience is unique and no less impressive than any of the other candidates. As I veteran, I know that military experience cannot be the sole basis for leadership. McCain is wrong on this issue. As for governor experience neither McCain, Biden or Obama have been governors. But, was not George Bush, Jr. a Governor? How about Jimmy Carter? Now, I think Carter was a much better president than was popularly believed and he has certainly proven himself a committed Christian, at least by the bible definition of what a Christian should be. But my point is, that both were governors before the oval office. Was it the experience of governor or was it something else that convinced American's to elect them? And, perhaps both of them (Carter and Bush) could have been more effective had they been more experienced in public policy making, of which experience you gain in both the State and Federal legislative branches of the government.

    Oh, and remember, that great President by the name of Lincoln? Pretty good for one who did not have a whole lot of "executive" political experience in office himself!


    These are challenging times. Let's keep our minds on the issues and not the "attractive appearances", men or women!




  • Posted By: 1whoknows @ 09/06/2008 7:31:32 PM

    God save America from Obama

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