Was Obama Behind the Occupy Crackdown? Look Like No.

[JaneyVee]

For the “Obama can do no right” crowd—not the predictable right wing one, but the sadly just as predictable left wing one—the crackdown last year on Occupy protests was like manna from conspiracy theory heaven. Since this particular crowd operates under the assumption that Obama is a dictator (which is why they endlessly hold him accountable for the removal of a public option from the ACA, even though it’s Congress that did that), it was not much of a leap for them to take a series of brutal localized crackdowns on Occupy and blame the White House. Judicial Watch, a right wing organization, issued a FOIA request to the DHS to find out if the Obama White House did direct these shut-downs, which Judicial Watch appears to favor. The request centered around Portland’s protests, which are particularly interesting to the right, because there were heavy accusations of criminal misbehavior.

What they discovered with this request what that the administration wasn’t keen on shutting down Occupy. DHS/National Protection and Programs Directorate Chief of Staff Caitlin Durkovich asked the GSA Public Buildings offices about a message they received about not enforcing curfew on protesters. The GSA Public Buildings office replied:

Caitlin: yes, that is our position; it’s been vetted with our Administrator and Michael Robertson, our chief of staff, and we have communicated with the WH [White House], which has afforded us the discretion to fashion our approach to Occupy issues…The arrests last week were carried out despite our request that the protesters be allowed to remain and to camp overnight…

Judicial Watch claims this demonstrates collusion between the Occupiers and the White House, when of course it does no such thing. What it does demonstrate, however, is that the White House was not only not coordinating some kind of crackdown, but seemed not particularly keen on shutting down protests at all.

Read The Rest: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/08/16/was-obama-behind-the-occupy-crackdown-look-like-no/

[AtomicKitten]

1. I'm sorry, mam. That just doesn't fit the narrative.

Thanks for posting this and welcome to DU.

[bvar22]

2. Absurd Strawman.

For this to have any validity,
you will have to post a link to ANY DUer who claimed that "Obama was behind the crackdown".
I haven't seen a post on DU that has made that claim,
even from the "just as predictable left wing" on DU.
Until you produce this documentation,
your OP is bogus.

What I have seen is speculation and suspicion that the crackdown on OWS was coordinated at the National Level.
The weapons, timing, and tactics of several of the crackdowns would seem to indicate that this is true.

The claims that have been made on DU is that the Holder Justice Department (and Obama White House by proxy) did nothing to stop these violent crackdowns and protect the Civil Liberties of the mostly peaceful, legal protestors.

NOW, if you are willing to produce documentation that Holder took steps to protect OWS from these
militarized, orchestrated crackdowns,
OR that Holder took the time to investigate whether local Police Departments were being "coordinated" at the national level,
I am willing to listen.
It would seem unlikely that this could have occurred [without the Justice Department's approval.


You will know them by their WORKS,
not by their rhetoric, promises, or excuses.
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