OBAMA NOT FOLLOWING SAUL'S RULES

It appears that Barack Obama has failed to adhere to rules #6 and #7 of Saul Alinksy's Rules for Radicals when pushing Obama-care. Senior citizens have been leading the charge against Obama's plan because it's an issue much more personal to them than it is to the young tech-saavy supporters of Obama.

Beth Fouhy at the WASHINGTON POST points out this likely unforseen dilemma for Obama and does a decent job of explaining it:

Add this to President Barack Obama's problems in selling his health care overhaul: A lot of the tech-savvy activists who helped put him in office are young, feeling indestructible and not all that into what they see as an old folks issue.

It's a crucial gap in support and one the White House may have to correct if Obama is to regain the momentum and get Congress to act on his top domestic priority.

Matt Singer, a 26-year-old founder of the liberal group Forward Montana and an activist in the health care trenches, has tried to engage young people.

"Right now we're seeing a big conversation with seniors, but you're not seeing the same mobilization among young people who are President Obama's core constituency," Singer said. "The age demographic most supportive of reform has not been engaged, and it makes me very nervous."

This apparently explains the "Passion" gap but where does Saul Alinsky come in?

RULE #6: A good tactic is one your people enjoy. "If your people aren't having a ball doing it, there is something very wrong with the tactic."

RULE #7: A tactic that drags on for too long becomes a drag. Commitment may become ritualistic as people turn to other issues.

Saul would be extremely disappointed in his protege, I'm sure.

While Fouhy is all too willing to declare the concern over death panels a discredited concern even though the provision pointing to it had to be removed from the bill once Sarah Palin used Facebook to shine a big fat light on it, she does seem to be onto something here.

Regardless of her liberal bent, it's nice to see a sound argument coming from someone like Fouhy instead of the tired rhetoric about right wing mob astroturfers and racists just being obstructionists for no reason.

Whipping up resentment against passionate senior citizens is not a tactic Obama's people are enjoying. For one thing, they don't care too much about health care relative to seniors' emotional investment in the issue. Secondly, isn't it pretty hard to get people to hate seniors with whom they disagree? I mean, you gotta be hard core heartless to do that.

The August recess is also becoming a drag for the Obamautomatons.

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h/t to INSTAPUNDIT