The Left’s Tea Party?
October 6, 2011 - by
A TAPster asks: Is the Occupy Wall Street protest “a moment or a movement?”
Is it a new political wave that, as the Tea Party shaped the 2010 election, will shape the 2012 election?
The Tea Party took off two years ago – ironically, sparked by a CNBC reporter’s rant on Wall Street – as a protest against Big Government.
This took off as a protest on Wall Street against Big Business. It’s been joined in North Carolina by Facebook-fueled college students – a key part of Obama’s base in 2008.
The White House is taking note. They’re taking shots at higher bank fees.
(Wait ‘til bank customers get a load of the new fees. They may be in the streets, too.)
President Obama said consumers are being “mistreated” by Bank of America. Ironic, points out Jim Morrill in the Charlotte Observer, when next year Obama will accept renomination in Bank of America Stadium.
Obama has never been a full-throated populist. Some Democrats fault him for not being more like FDR, as one said: “Putting his heel on the throats of Wall Street and the Republicans and never letting up.”
But Morgan Jackson, a political consultant in Raleigh, told Morrill:
“Obama is finding his voice and getting to a place where he’s framing discussion of the economy. I fully (expect) him to get more populist in his message, and I think it will resonate with folks during these hard economic times.”
With his poll ratings lower than the economic outlook, anti-corporate populism may appeal to the President’s reelection strategists.
America may not be in an economic depression, but Americans sure are in an emotional depression. The classic political solution is to give them a villain.
For the Tea Party, that was Big Government. Now it may be Big Business’ turn.
The Left’s Tea Party?
October 6, 2011/
A TAPster asks: Is the Occupy Wall Street protest “a moment or a movement?”
Is it a new political wave that, as the Tea Party shaped the 2010 election, will shape the 2012 election?
The Tea Party took off two years ago – ironically, sparked by a CNBC reporter’s rant on Wall Street – as a protest against Big Government.
This took off as a protest on Wall Street against Big Business. It’s been joined in North Carolina by Facebook-fueled college students – a key part of Obama’s base in 2008.
The White House is taking note. They’re taking shots at higher bank fees.
(Wait ‘til bank customers get a load of the new fees. They may be in the streets, too.)
President Obama said consumers are being “mistreated” by Bank of America. Ironic, points out Jim Morrill in the Charlotte Observer, when next year Obama will accept renomination in Bank of America Stadium.
Obama has never been a full-throated populist. Some Democrats fault him for not being more like FDR, as one said: “Putting his heel on the throats of Wall Street and the Republicans and never letting up.”
But Morgan Jackson, a political consultant in Raleigh, told Morrill:
“Obama is finding his voice and getting to a place where he’s framing discussion of the economy. I fully (expect) him to get more populist in his message, and I think it will resonate with folks during these hard economic times.”
With his poll ratings lower than the economic outlook, anti-corporate populism may appeal to the President’s reelection strategists.
America may not be in an economic depression, but Americans sure are in an emotional depression. The classic political solution is to give them a villain.
For the Tea Party, that was Big Government. Now it may be Big Business’ turn.