Belatedly, Obama remembers his organizing roots

By E.J. Dionne Jr.
WashPost
Thursday, September 30, 2010

A couple of hours before President Obama offered a boffo revival of his 2008 campaign persona during a boisterous rally at the University of Wisconsin, Sen. Bernie Sanders was analyzing why the president was in a political pickle in the first place.

Sanders, the independent from Vermont who caucuses with the Democrats, speaks warmly of Obama. But unlike the man in the White House, Sanders actually is a socialist and believes devoutly in grass-roots, class-based politics.

And it is his faith in the power of a progressive movement organized around a clear set of commitments that lies at the heart of Sanders's critique of where the president went wrong.

"Think back to two years ago," Sanders said during an interview in the only Senate office decorated with a medallion of Eugene V. Debs, the legendary American Socialist leader. "There were rallies involving 80,000 to 100,000. Obama was running the best campaign I've seen in my lifetime -- and I'm pretty critical."

(More here.)