E.J. Dionne, Jr.: 3 Signs Anti-Wall Streeters Are Succeeding

[babylonsister]

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/3_signs_anti-wall_streeters_are_succeeding_20111030/

3 Signs Anti-Wall Streeters Are Succeeding
Posted on Oct 30, 2011
By E.J. Dionne, Jr.



We may be reaching an inflection point, the moment when the terms of the political argument change decisively. Three indicators: An important speech by Rep. Paul Ryan, the increasingly sharp tone of President Obama’s rhetoric, and the success of Occupy Wall Street in resisting attempts to marginalize the movement.

snip//

Now it takes some temerity for a Republican to charge Obama with divisiveness, given the GOP’s willingness to promote or countenance assaults on the president as “a socialist,” as someone not even born in the United States, as a supporter of “death panels,” and on and on. Republicans calling Obama divisive is the equivalent of those of us who are Red Sox fans criticizing another team for folding under pressure.

But what’s most instructive is that Ryan would not have given this speech if the GOP were not so worried that it is losing control of the political narrative. In particular, growing inequalities of wealth and income—which should have been a central issue in American politics for at least a decade—are now finally at the heart of our discourse. We are, at last, discussing the social and economic costs of concentrating ever more resources in the hands of the top sliver of our society.

snip//

A recent survey by The Washington Post and the Pew Research Center showed Occupy to be more popular now than the tea party, which keeps losing ground. The poll also showed that these two movements are quite distinct—they are not part of some generalized protest. Only 10 percent of those surveyed supported both Occupy Wall Street and the tea party. And as my colleague Greg Sargent has documented tirelessly, on many of the core issues (favoring higher taxes on millionaires and believing in a more even distribution of income and wealth) public opinion strongly supports the anti-Wall Streeters.

Obama’s aides have a habit of congratulating themselves too much when things start going well. The president has a long way to go, and he is pursuing a strategy now that he resisted for a long time. But it ought to encourage the president that Paul Ryan is terribly upset. Telling the truth about inequality is politically wise, and morally necessary.

[fasttense]

1. Subtle but good points.

Protests ALWAYS have an impact. You could even say protests always work. Sometimes they take decades to succeed and sometimes it only takes a few months.

Even the fake protests of the teabaggers worked to some extent.

This is why so many, for so long, have been discouraging normal people from protesting.

[Remember Me]

7. I understand what you're saying and agree with the underlying

principle.

But I sadly remember a time when millions protesting here in this country and around the world -- all 7 continents on one particular day -- couldn't stop a war. Unprecedented to have protests BEFORE a war, but they weren't reported by the mainstream media and it was as if they didn't exist.

But for the most part, I totally agree.

[uponit7771]

2. There's not a bagger I've talked to that will admit that the rich are paying their fair share of tax

...taxes. That's the argument they're losing right now also, KKKons can't admit right now they're protecting the rich against the working class calls for a more progressive tax system.

[emcguffie]

4. You've confused me.

There's no teabagger that will admit that the rich are paying their fair share of tax?

I'm totally confused. Are they paying their fair share? They're not, right? Do you mean there are no teabaggers that will admit that the rich are NOT paying their fair share?

Maybe I should assume that's a typo. Just checking.

[flamingdem]

3. I love that OWS snagged the narrative from the GOP

That is an amazing success

[Ralph Spoilsport]

5. There's a lot of this going around, and it makes me smile.

I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression. Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel's worth; banks are going bust; shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter; punks are running wild in the street, and there's nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there's no end to it.

We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat. And we sit watching our TVs while some local newscaster tells us that today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that's the way it's supposed to be!

We all know things are bad -- worse than bad -- they're crazy.

It's like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don't go out any more. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we're living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, "Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials, and I won't say anything. Just leave us alone."

Well, I'm not going to leave you alone.

I want you to get mad!

I don't want you to protest. I don't want you to riot. I don't want you to write to your Congressman, because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write. I don't know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crime in the street.

All I know is that first, you've got to get mad.

You've gotta say, "I'm a human being, goddammit! My life has value!"

So, I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window, open it, and stick your head out and yell,

"I'm as mad as hell,

and I'm not going to take this anymore!!"

[Ralph Spoilsport]

6. Except for the reference to the Russians....

This remains fresh.