Saul Alinsky

Today would have been Saul Alinsky's 101st birthday. Alinsky was a community organizer whose followers left a major impact on urban politics. President Obama received his early training in community organizing from Alinsky disciples. An article in The New Republic describes the Alinsky connection. Although Alinsky identified with the political left, some conservatives have been taking their cue from him.

Alinsky taught very effective political tactics, but his philosophy of politics was incomplete. He argued that politics rested entirely on self-interest, but his own career was a dramatic example of someone acting on his own vision of the public good.