PROTESTS PERIL FOR OBAMA

As the early ’70s repeat themselves with the chaotic Occupy Wall Street demonstrations in lower Manhattan, we need to grasp what a peril this movement is to President Obama and the entire Democratic Party. It is like the Obama campaign run wild without Obama in it. It is as if the bandwagon has taken off and left the president behind. And he and his party are racing to catch up. “There go my followers,” they seem to be saying, “and I must go with them because I am their leader.”

Just as the civil rights movement of the late ’50s and early ’60s and the youthful enthusiasm that animated JFK’s candidacy in 1960 energized a generation, so the Obama campaign did in 2008. But just as frustration with Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon and the entire political system turned the idealism of the young into sour cynicism, so the Obama campaign’s young enthusiasts have become cynical, bitter opponents of the entire political/economic system. If the Obama campaign harkened back to memories of the civil rights demonstrations of the ’60s, so the Occupy Wall Street effort reminds us of SDS, SNCC, hippies, yuppies, the Chicago Seven and Jerry Rubin.

The fact is that Obama is less a socialist than a corporatist. His objective is not government ownership, but government management. To control the economy — and all of our lives — he needs to get rid of small banks and small business and consolidate it all in a few big banks and big corporations; hence his friendliness to Goldman-Sachs and General Motors. When wealthy tycoons go to dinners and give Obama $35,000 donations, they know what they are doing. It is not liberal Democratic masochism at work, it is a conscious investment in central planning where big labor, big government, big business and big banks meet and divvy up the pie, just as they do in Germany and France. That is Obama’s game.

His former supporters have taken to the streets to protest his corporatist alliances. Sure, they oppose the Republicans and the conservatives, but they have more in common with the Tea Party than they realize. Both are acting out against big business. Wall Street is as much the enemy of Main Street as it is of college campuses.

The unions and the professional left are scrambling, along with Obama and the Democrats, to head off the stampede among their followers in the Occupy Wall Street movement. They are trying to make up for their pro-Wall Street policies by seeming to take on rich people in their tax program. But the young demonstrators will not be fooled. They invested their dreams for Obama in 2008 and, since then, have gotten only compromises, half-measures, incompetence and a ruined economy in return.

The conservatives and Republicans no longer own the anti-Obama movement. They have to share ownership with disenchanted liberals, those who recognize incompetence when they see it, and the many who are turned off by the growing perception of corruption in the wake of Solyndra. The bad economy has led to an impression of presidential weakness and inability akin to that which took over the image of Jimmy Carter in the late ’70s. More and more, the opposition to Obama is based on the outcomes of his policies, not on their ideological bias or their liberal intent.

Will the Republicans drive these new converts to the anti-Obama cause back into the arms of the Democrats? The likes of Mitt Romney won’t. Rick Perry might, particularly as he explains his designs on the Social Security system. But even if they are worried by the possibility of a Republican victory in 2012, their more likely reaction is to vote with their feet and stay home. Obama cannot muster the same enthusiasm he did in 2008. It’s out there, but it is now opposed to him, not for him. That’s what Occupy Wall Street is all about.

Uh, how abut this . . .”he needs to get rid of small banks and small business and consolidate it all in a few big banks and big corporations; hence his friendliness to Goldman-Sachs and General Motors.

When wealthy tycoons go to dinners and give Obama $35,000 donations, they know what they are doing. It is not liberal Democratic masochism at work, it is a conscious investment in central planning where big labor, big government, big business and big banks meet and divvy up the pie, just as they do in Germany and France. That is Obama’s game.”

Is this not EXACTLY what O has done, among other things: big bank bailouts, big Wall Street bailouts and cronyism, SEIU support, big corporate bailouts (GM, for instance).

Maybe Morris has it right with that quote above. And, if so, then does it not make sense to attract potentially potential Republican voters with the strength of our principles and arguments rather than repelling them with reflexive hostility and antipathy toward the man that MAY be the Republican candidate.

Many good, loyal, and responsible Americans see him as someone who probably could do a good job in taking care of American interests and our national principles. To derisively dismiss the man and those who respect him does no good. To simply scream that he/it is “BS” or a “RINO” is not constructive.

I suggest work, donations, and persuasion as the right course. Then acknowledge the republican (small “r”) institutions and history of this country, accept the outcome in which we have had our say, and work to make it a better place.

The challenge for Republicans is to largely keep their stupid mouths shut

Well, that strategy didn't work very well when George W. Bush tried it. He kept his mouth shut, didn't deign to honor the outrageous assertions of the left by countering them, and ended up being the most unpopular president in decades, while taking the Republicans down with him.

I think a better strategy for Republicans is to talk about OWS a lot, ridicule it, tie it to Obama, Pelosi, Reid and the Democrats, and force them to defend it -- since they've already shown their support.

They should start be referring to OWS as the "Democratic Party Army," and talking about how it is "Obama's movement."

And they should be taking advantage of the renewed opportunity to tie Bill Ayers around Obama's neck, now that Ayers has thoughtfully and publicly articulated what OWS is all about.

And of course, "Obama's movement" ought to be illustrated by this pic whenever possible:

You have a valid point about the lack of responsive, verbal defense during GWB’s term. But a few things: During the term of GWBush, the Dems were much, much less weird than they are today and as they have been for most of the 0bama regime. One of the problems explaining conservative principles is that whatever is explained has to fit on a bumper sticker. That is a serious challenge, to get through to small numbers of disconnected neurons. You know, they’re the ones who think America sucks and everything the government does is wrong and an international crime. But then it’s the same government they need to furnish their medical care, their schooling, and this winter, their shelter, food, and heat.

My hope with this crew is to have them illustrate by their own behavior just how weird they are, *without* explanation. In one small sound bite, the left is good at changing the subject. But that is all we get to point out how absurd they are, as you suggest. This is evident from the sheer goofiness of the OWS crews’ demands.

Unfortunately, the dynamic is that when we/you respond to their vapidity, we in effect become defined by them. You are what you criticize, what you resist. That’s why I want them to reveal their true nature without verbal interference from the GOP. I’d like to give the wordless treatment for a while. Let the pundits, the Eugene Robinsons, the Chris Matthews, the Lawrence O’Donnells come out in deep, thoroughly thought out support of them. Let Nancy Pelosi and her ilk come out in support of them. Somewhere down the road a piece, the true folly and insanity of this movement will become clear to many more people than it is now today. And my hope is that the defenders will have painted themselves into a corner.

The bottom line is that they are getting shown to be ridiculous miscreants by the excess press coverage they are already getting, in my view, far better than sound-bite criticism from our side will yield. At least at present. Our criticism isn’t going to stop them from doing whatever they are going to do, from blossoming into whatever running sore they might turn themselves into. I don’t think we should try to stop them. Ultimately, I believe they themselves will produce the type of revulsion we would ordinarily try to create (via criticism or even ridicule) just by being the weirdos they already are. They need no help from us. Plus, they are a “thing” the Dems can latch onto. We want more and more wacko Dems to hop on board with them, and this will likely occur over a little bit of time.

Maybe this sounds cruel. But let’s have ordinary folks have serious problems affording their winter heating bills while this crew petitions cities to house them, feed them and heat them and clean up after them. Let’s have ordinary folks see their towns spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in police overtime and cleanup. Let’s let this example do our talking for us. What I would REALLY like to see would be do-gooders in towns across the country suggesting that little towns float bonds to pay for housing and caring for these miscreants. For people to change their views...the have to feel pain. That’s all there is to it.

We conservatives, we have an election to win, and we damn well better. These leftover hippies are a distraction.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.