BloggeRhythms

During the past seven years or so, when attempting to determine the rationale for some of the Obama administrations outlandish or nonsensical practices and illogical objectives, it often seemed that the stimulus might very well have come from Saul Alinsky.

Alinsky was an American activist and writer, generally considered to be the founder of modern community organizing. He’s also noted for his book Rules for Radicals, written in 1971.

Alinsky came to mind today, whereas Trump has confused and astounded most in the leftist media and their audiences to date. Primarily because his actions and methodologies have thrown them completely off balance. Yet, Trump's managerial style, while perhaps politically unconventional, seems to be the complete reverse of Obama/Alinsky. 

Some of Alinsky’s 12 Rules clearly establish the differences between he and Trump. The parenthetical explanations are Alinsky’s as well.


“RULE 3: “Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy.” Look for ways to increase insecurity, anxiety and uncertainty. (This happens all the time. Watch how many organizations under attack are blind-sided by seemingly irrelevant arguments that they are then forced to address.)


“RULE 8: “Keep the pressure on. Never let up.” Keep trying new things to keep the opposition off balance. As the opposition masters one approach, hit them from the flank with something new. (Attack, attack, attack from all sides, never giving the reeling organization a chance to rest, regroup, recover and re-strategize.)

“RULE 9: “The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.” Imagination and ego can dream up many more consequences than any activist. 

“RULE 10: “If you push a negative hard enough, it will push through and become a positive.” Violence from the other side can win the public to your side because the public sympathizes with the underdog. (Unions used this tactic.)

“RULE 12: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.” Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions. (This is cruel, but very effective. Direct, personalized criticism and ridicule works.)

Thus, concerning numerous key issues it can be realized how often Alinsky's rules apply to Obama. Whether it’s open borders, the Iran deal, establishing relationships with Cuba, the global-warming farce, the health care tax or the upcoming meeting with Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzō Abe, at Pearl Harbor, most Americans are kept confused and perplexed by the irrationality. Exactly as Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals suggest.      

Trump, on the other hand, seems unconventional primarily to those unfamiliar with how task-focused businessmen work. However, it’s really not that complicated at all. Set the objective, gather the appropriate resources and personnel, solve the problem and move on with no concern for the politics of the matter whatsoever.  

There are others though for whom everything they think, dream or do is entirely political, such as current Vice President Joe Biden.

According to the Associated Press @foxnews.com: “Biden says world will look to liberal Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau”

Yesterday he told a crowd of Canadian dignitaries: “The world is going to spend a lot of time looking to you Mr. Prime Minister. Viva la Canada because we need you very, very badly." 

Noting that “there's a lot of soul searching going in the United States and Europe,” Biden went on, “There are periods when the number of genuine leaders are on a continent are in short supply and when they are in heavy supply." That comment’s particularly interesting because it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. 

He then continued: “We're going to get through this period because we are Americans and Canadians." 

Meeting with Trudeau again today, Biden will also speak to Canada's 10 premiers about climate change, which he called the most "consequential issue of our generation."

As for Trudeau, his “liberal government is poised to agree with the provinces on a carbon tax. His government is worried what the new Trump administration will mean for North American efforts to combat climate change.”

That’s because: “Trump has tweeted that 'global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.'

Which gives one the sense that while global-warming may be nothing to really worry about at all for Trump, the new carbon tax is certainly a major concern to Trudeau.

Along similar lines, Steven Mufson @washingtonpost.com, writes about a “pair of Twitter messages Wednesday evening in which Trump attacked an Indiana union leader who had criticized him, saying the official had done a “terrible job representing workers.”

This comes just “four weeks after Trump won the presidency in part by wooing union voters with promises of better trade deals and a manufacturing revival.” 

As a result, national labor leaders fear Trump’s now planning a broad assault on unions. Eric Hauser, the AFL-CIO’s strategic adviser and communications director said: “The president-elect campaigned on reaching out to working people, and this is one of a string of nominations that run counter to that.”  

However, the statistics don’t bear that out, because exit election poll data shows that “Clinton’s smaller margin of victory among union members, along with Trump’s unusually strong performance, helped him win the White House.” 

And then, compounding union management's problems far further, according to Wikipedia’s “Labor unions in the United States,”  in 2013 there were 14.5 million members in the U.S., compared with 17.7 million in 1983. The percentage of workers belonging to a union was 11.3%, compared to 20.1% in 1983. What’s more, the rate for the private sector was 6.7%, and for the public sector 35.3%. 

Further evidence of rapidly diminishing union membership was found at  Planet Money @npr.org: 

“Fifty years ago, nearly a third of U.S. workers belonged to a union. Today, it's one in 10.”

Which means that, while those managing a tenth of the working force may or may not have something to truly be concerned about, the other 90% of employed Americans likely have a far brighter income outlook for the future. 

And then, although it was promised to leave the global-warming farce issue alone now that Trump’s selected Oklahoma Attorney General, Scott Pruitt, to head the EPA, a reader’s comment following an article by Timothy Mclaughlin @ca.news.yahoo.com, certainly deserves mention.

According to the article, it’s predicted that “much of the northern half of the United States could see frigid weather next week similar to life-threatening lows the polar vortex brought to parts of the country in 2014.” The system’s much like the one that developed in January 2014.

Reader, bill, commented: “It's so cold outside, I saw a global warming scientist walking down the sidewalk, and he had his hands in his OWN pockets.” 

Along the same lines of things that are over and no longer relevant, here’s one last update on Bill Clinton's wife. This one’s from Rush yesterday. 

He informed his listeners that the Jill Stein-Hillary Clinton recount has been stopped by a federal judge in Michigan.  That means it's over and ends any chance of the election results being reversed by any kind of a recount.  

As a result, Rush said: “this is another historic precedent for Hillary Clinton.  She just keeps losing.  The way I look at this, she's lost three times now.  She lost in 2008.  She lost this year, and now she lost the recount.”  

Quoting Trump, Rush said: “You're gonna be asking me, you're gonna be begging me to just slow down, stop the winning, there's too much winning, there's so much winning."  For Hillary Clinton, it's the losing that keeps on coming.  And I am not unhappy to see it.”

Rush closed off the segment by saying that not only had a judge shut down the recount in Michigan, but Trump had gained “something like either 123 or 143 votes. Trump won even bigger as a result of the Jillary Stein recount.  I mean, it's all backfiring on these people!  It's just rearing up -- it's like a rattlesnake -- and just continues to bite these people.  They haven't figured out it out, and there's no antidote to the venom.”

And, what's even more interesting is that he hasn't even officially taken office yet. 

That's it for today folks.

Adios