Understanding President Obama’s rhetoric (“On Presidential Rhetoric,” Review & Outlook, April 22) is easy once you have read “Rules for Radicals” by Saul Alinsky. Mr. Alinsky was a Chicago community organizer and considered by many to be the father of community organizers.

There are 13 rules in his book. Rule five is “ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.” Rule 13 advises: “Pick a target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.” The rule goes on to say that to “develop the necessary hostility” toward an opponent, criticisms “must be a personification, not something general and abstract” and that to work “all issues must be polarized” if action is to be taken.

The first sentence in “Rules” is, “What follows is for those who want to change the world from what it is to what they believe it should be.” Mr. Alinsky disdained “evolution” of society and believed it was necessary to be a revolutionary for change. He says, “‘Rules for Radicals’ is written for the have-nots on how to take it [power] away.”

Mr. Obama uses ad hominem attacks because he sees destroying opponents simply as a positive tactic used to achieve his goals. Many in the country voted for “change” without realizing that destruction was the first step in the process, and ridicule its most valuable tactic.

Hal Bray

Brentwood, Calif.