I have no idea who said it first. The clever line has been attributed to at least a half dozen different people today. But since I’ve been community organizing blogging today, I figured I’d be remiss if I didn’t throw it up there.
It is a very good point.
You have been astroturfed.
[...] · No Comments “Jesus was a community organizer, Pontius Pilate was a Governor” According to a post by Andrew Golis, at least half a dozen folks have been cited for that [...]
Community organizers have been a backbone in America since the start. The GOP is a nasty organization who equate everything to Communists, Terrorists and anything else that sparks fear. Now they are making good people out to be something to fear.
No Change seen here!
Obama/Biden 08
Andrew, actually, I coined the phrase. True.
The phrase “Jesus was a community organizer” was already out there. I thought about Sara Palin being the governor of Alaska, thought about who was the governor of Judaea at the time, and came up with the couplet. I posted it on a thread on the Washington Post online, in the late morning, west coast time, on September 4, the morning after Palin and Guilliani were having such a great time denigrating Obama.
Very quickly, someone on the thread wrote, “I like it”; then I saw it quoted, first with attribution, then without, on the WaPo.com Then, later in the day, I saw it on the DailyKos, then it just took off.
Very weird. I’ve never sparked a viral phrase before.
But I have my regrets. While I think that it’s clever to note that Jesus was a community organizer — the part of the phrase I didn’t coin — I was trying to show that being a governor isn’t always a great thing either. It isn’t the job that makes the person; it’s the person who makes the job.
I was being snarky about Palin and comparing her to Pontius Pilate, more than I was intending on elevating Obama to messianic heights. But the phrase, as a couplet, seems to have really taken off. It’s all over the web — within just two days! Unfortunately, I think that conservatives will now think that Obama himself is trying to compare himself to Jesus, a la John Lennon. I’ve seen complaints; I’ve also seen people attributing it to the Obama campaign.
It wasn’t them. It was me.
Terry Carroll
Oakland, California
Actually, Jesus was King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He was a teacher and a prophet, but he most certainly was NOT a community organizer…lol
Tammi, what is the basis for your point? Give him whatever title you want, but considering his actions as acts of community organization is very apt. He was not an elected official, yet was involved with civic duties such as reaching out to the poor and helpless, taking care of the sick, etc. His entire movement was a grass roots campaign addressing the needs of those whom the government cared nothing about. Yes he was a preacher, a teacher and many consider him to have been the messiah. But he very much can be seen as one who worked with and for the communities he entered. He was a very hands on, immersed in the day-to-day lives and problems of the citizens, kind of leader. The only reason you have a problem with that is because you love Sarah Palin and can’t stand that she stupidly denigrated a kind of civic involvement that has been around since ancient times and has included people like Moses, MLK, Ghandi, Mandela, and Jesus. Yeah gee, those people had no responsibilities whatsoever, I mean what did they ever do that would look good on a resume? I guess the republicans are right…community organizing is just sooooo stupid.
Jesus didn’t run for President.
Going the next step to this fact rather kills the “superior” point of someone just being a “lowly” organizer rather than a “ruling” governor, doesn’t it, when the “lowly” aspires to be President? Yes, it does.
Jesuse was not black
Didn’t it originally show up on Metafilter?
The comment above stated, “Jesuse was not black
Jojo Blacky – September 11, 2008 at 4:31 pm
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Just out of curiosity, what does His (Jesus) race have to do with anything?
Palin is a name that’s been familiar to us for well over two years. She is not the “cutesy little girl next door” as being portrayed by some. People need to wake up.
Michelle
http://michelle2005.wordpress.com