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As the COP Blames Obama For Wall Street "Mobs' The Occupy Movement Spreads Nationwide And Is No Friend of The President
By Danny Schechter, Author of The Crime Of Our Time
Who is behind the Wall Street protests?
The Republican minority leader, Eric Cantor, has searched up and down in his usual rigorous manner and found the culprit.
In his knee-jerk view, it's President Obama. His latest crime: encouraging these "mobs:"
In one sentence, he blamed the President who in GOP conspiracy think, is to blame for everything, including bad weather. He also not so subtly conjures up the memory of the Mafia, New York's perennial bad guys.
In one phrase, Obama stood accused of encouraging these". pause for righteous indignation--MOBS!
Never mind that if you spend any time at Occupy Wall Street, you will encounter as many criticisms of the President's policies---save the questions about his birth and "real Americaness" -- as you would at a conclave of the Tea Party.
Only the criticism is different. In the latter world of make-believe, he is a hard line Socialist. In the former, he is, in effect, a Republican, a backer of the Wall Street capitalists the occupiers are battling.
And if my memory of history has not faded, wasn't it the British who called the original Tea Party a "mob?"
Let's not let the facts get in the way of a partisan shmear.
The COP is in trouble, unable to find a Presidential candidate they can agree on, unable to come up with any program to do anything about the country's economic distress, and unable to erode the growing public disgust with the Congress they now control. All they can do is snarl like an attack dog.
Their blame Obama mantra may cheer their faithful, but convinces no new potential voters. The Wall Street protesters are their latest distraction, aided and abetted by the hardliners at Fox News, who wouldn't be blasting away if the occupations weren't successful in getting a counter narrative into the media stream.
The Occupy Wall Streeters don't waste any time attacking politicians because they are estranged from all traditional party politics. There is danger of self-marginalization in this approach but it also reflects a certain purity of purpose.
Many in the Park fear co-optation or "capture" by Democrats. Occupy Wall Street Is not partisan but has now endorsed an October 15th Jobs march sponsored by the AFL-CIO. Richard Trumka, the president of the labor federation, visited Zuccotti Park and won their support. That nationwide action will be endorsing Obama's compromised Jobs bill.
This does not mean that the protest will align with the Obamacrats. Al Jazeera spoke with Katie Davison, one of the activists who explained their way of looking at the world.
