Ever hear of Saul Alinsky? He was the writer and teacher of “pragmatic radicals”. His book, Rules for Radicals, is excellent reading if one wants to be any good at organizing. As a matter of fact it is a book that Obama has said made a difference in his life and in his activism. As an old hippie, pinko, commie from my days of protests in the 70’s, his book was an excellent resource for action and planning.
I think that maybe Obama should have kept his admiration for Alinsky to himself. Just as in the Vietnam War, Giap’s book, People’s Army, People’s War, was required reading for the special operations guys doing the crappy work in the country. I do believe that Clinton’s campaign has done the same thing with Obama.
I will bet that one is asking what the hell I am talking about. Answer: Alinsky had 3 tactics to use. They were, 1–The real action is the enemy’s reaction, 2–The enemy properly goaded and guided in his action will be your major strength, 3–Tactics, like organization, like life, require that you move with the action. So far both candidates have had to deal with these three tactics.
My advice would be, if you are using a game plan from a certain source, then you might want to keep it under lock and key, so that your opponent does not use it to bite you in the ass. Just a thought.
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Who is the goader? And who is the goaded?
Did Hillary goad Obama with racially tainted attacks?
Or did Obama goad Hillary into making increasingly bitter attacks by studiously attempting to appear above them?
Either way, what happens when the goading backfires, and the sufficiently goaded opponent turns and smacks the goader down hard?
The point (if I still have one) is that sometimes goading ain’t such a great idea.
Goading the enemy is a standard I live by it always works. By the way it is one of the key lessons of The Art Of War as well. Takes a long time to perfect. BTW – I have never professed to doing this publicly!!
and you are right – protect your game plan. Particularly hard to do, I have learned. Maybe its because I am a female.We tend to seek support. But I have the hard hard hard way this is essential.
Mad magazine can be used as a how-to guide.