Your opinion about Obama lumping in OWS with the Tea Party?

[occupyeverywhere]

Like he did on Jay Leno the other night.

[leveymg]

1. What exactly did he say?

[occupyeverywhere]

2. He essentially mentioned them in the same phrase

and then said "there are a lot of people who are angry or upset" That is not an exact quote.

[leveymg]

7. That's essentially accurate, even if both are uncomfortable confined within the same sentence.

There are two takeaways from Obama's comment: 1) aside from Teas and OWS, everyone else in America is snug and happy; or 2) both are manifestations of popular discontent.

1) is clearly inaccurate, so I tend to believe he meant 2). Would I be wrong? BTW: I'M NOT a big Obama booster these days.

[Name removed]

26. Deleted message

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[peace frog]

3. He *understands* that *people are upset*

He conveniently ignores the enormous differences between the astroturfed teabaggers and the true grass roots OWS movement.
Why, it's all of a piece, doncha know. One America and all that. Uh-huh. Pass his jobs bill and All Will Be Well. Riiiight.

[CanonRay]

4. He doesn't get it

too much Potomac River water has affected his judgement.

[madokie]

5. No it's you who doesn't get it

[CanonRay]

30. He thinks it's some kind of general malaise on both sides

but it is much, much more than that. Ergo, he doesn't get it. Yet, anyway. Or, if he's the political genius you want him to be, then he's hiding that he get's it very well.

[alfredo]

28. The Republicans want to connect the White House to OWS

so if it descends into violence, they can point to POTUS. Obama keeping some daylight between him and OWS is good for both parties.

I also believe if he came out in support, the chances of the right provoking violence would be much higher.

[Edweird]

36. LOL.

[Marr]

43. The entire establishment wants to fit OWS into the tired old left/right, red/blue narrative.

They know how to play that game, and it splits the population fairly evenly. They do not want to deal with complaints from the 99% vs the 1%.

Having said that, I think it's clear that Obama's decision to hold OWS at arm's length is about servicing his Wall Street/corporate constituency.

[alfredo]

44. Most of Wall st's money is for Romney. That doesn't mean

Obama doesn't. He has his supporters in the street, and he also gets money because of the fine tradition of hedging their bets on giving. If they didn't give any money and he wins, they wouldn't have much leverage with him. Of course his second term means he doesn't have to worry about getting money for his campaign, but he does have to lend his party a hand.

[mmonk]

51. You are correct. The Tea Party was an organized creation

by billionaires that protest things not real like "socialism".

[Pisces]

63. Too much DU has affected yours.

[brewens]

6. Get the f&#k out!! He already decided to play it from the other side.

He should have went after the crooks right from the start when the markets were still down. If he had put aggressive people in charge at the DOJ and SEC and went after them, we might have a totally different situation now. The OWS people were there all the time. If they had seen him fixing the problem and being attacked by the right for it, they would have turned out and voted in 2010.

[redqueen]

14. This. If he gave a crap

then why didn't he appoint people that know what they're talking about, and not people who serve the financial industry?

Why is Biden his VP, what industry is he closest to?

The people who are actually in charge are not the people we think are in charge.

[Scuba]

8. He doesn't get it. He gave the Tea Party legitimacy they never deserved. n/t

[Autumn]

9. It's about what I expect from him

I don't think he ever steps foot out of his comfort zone.

[asjr]

10. Troublemaker.

[ixion]

11. marginalization and obfuscation

would be my opinion.

[Le Taz Hot]

12. At this point

it's just a continuous litany of cluelessness from this White House.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

58. It's cluelessness,

he thinks he's the second coming of Ronald Reagan.

[justiceischeap]

13. Even though the Tea Party was/is astroturfed the people that follow it

and buy in to it, are real. Just as real as the folks that support OWS. And as much as many may hate to admit it, a lot of our concerns intersect. We just don't agree about how to resolve the issues we agree are hurting America.

[MADem]

17. That's a very cogent point you are making.

It deserves attention, more than it might get.

Of course, the right insists that OWS came out of some little "ACORN," if ya know what I mean.

But even if it did, it wouldn't matter. It's the cultural and economic concerns that are driving people who say they support this faction or that.

[yardwork]

34. It's hard for me to take the Tea Party seriously at all because it is Koch-funded astro turf.

I'm trying. I know some people who are really into the Tea Party crap (and it is crap), so I see your point. I have a strong bias against the whole Tea Party thing because I know it was started by the Koch Brothers, just as most of the anti-health care reform was started and funded by the insurance industry.

The difference between the Tea Party and the "no public option" idiots holding signs and OWS is that OWS will be there tomorrow. You don't see too many "no public option" signs lately.

[loyalsister]

40. I think the origin and success of the tea party is misrepresented

I think it started with some small groups of sincerely discontented (and often racist) protestors and the goals were defined by the Koch brothers. Part of it had to do with the fact that they had naive leadership to begin with. Unfortunately, that strategy produced results. They successfully demonized the public option out of the agenda and even got some of them elected.
OWS is a group with similar origins that has not been funded.
Obama is correct in his comparison as both originated with groups of angry political novices. One willing to accept the funding that led to success and another that has not accepted outside leadership. The difference between the two makes OWS's point. The trouble is that the TP was able to court outsiders who eventually saw themselves and their anger reflected in the group. The question now is whether people will see themselves reflected in OWS.
Can OWS organize in a way to facilitate that reflection without massive funding?

[yardwork]

61. I can't prove it, but I strongly believe that the tea party and the anti-health care reform groups

were started by Koch Industries and the insurance industry. I do not believe that they were spontaneous movements. I think that they were planted deliberately, and then attracted sincerely discontented people. I think that the tea party and anti-health care reform movements were astro turf from the very beginning. Fake.

[loyalsister]

65. That's a reasonable possibility

Even if it is true, the point is that both groups are comprised of participants who are sincere. We don't have to agree on the legitimacy or target to see that the TP hate is as real as the outrage coming from OWS.

[Bluenorthwest]

15. I'd not watch Leno if he had Lord Krishna and Jesus singing a duet...

So I missed this

[EFerrari]

20. Me either. But the tea party is a goner. It can't compete

so whatever stray remark a pol makes at this point seems unimportant.

[alfredo]

29. Leno did a real good job, and Yo Yo Ma and friends was incredible.

I went out and bought his "The Goat Rodeo Sessions" the next day.

Incredible video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IT-xf0IVdE&feature=related

[blogslut]

16. I think

...that we need to make as many people as possible understand that when the obscenely wealthy and corporate interests are excused from contributing to the general welfare, everybody loses.

[izquierdista]

18. As clueless as the rest of the 1%

He's played his Harvard Law Review cred to the max -- now he IS part of the 1%. He'll use his background and oratory to pull a bait and switch on the 99%, maybe tossing them a crumb here and there, but his real loyalties lie with Geithner, Summers, and all the free-trade types -- the 1%.

[JoePhilly]

19. Obama Bad Obama Bad Obama Bad

[Edweird]

22. It is what it is.

[Name removed]

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[Edweird]

27. I read the actual quote and it doesn't differ significantly from the OP.

"Look, people are frustrated, and that frustration

has expressed itself in a lot of different ways. It expressed

itself in the Tea Party. It’s expressing itself in occupy

Wall Street."

[Bobbie Jo]

31. " it doesn't differ significantly from the OP"

= Spin

The OP is spinning the reference to fit his narrative. period.

[Edweird]

32. Obama made a false equivalence as indicated by the DIRECT QUOTE in the post you responded to.

Characterize it however you wish, I don't care - his words speak for themselves and vindicate the OP.

[Bobbie Jo]

33. Interesting you should use the word "characterize."

The OP wasn't "vindicated." The OP expressed an OPINION that you happen to share, apparently.

IOW.... characterized the quote to fit the narrative.

[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

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[occupyeverywhere]

41. I didn't "express an opinion"

Obama did equate the Tea Party with OWS. Too bad you choose not to see it, but Obama's words are his own.

[inna]

60. btw, welcome to DU! good to have you here, hope you'll stick around!

:hi:

(despite personal attacks and all... lol, just don't take them personally; it's always the same people...) :)

[occupyeverywhere]

67. Thanks inna!

[inna]

53. it is what it is

what's pathetic is to falsely accuse people of some sort of an anti-Obama bias/prejudice

[Tesha]

37. Once again he has a perfect oppportunity to side with Right and Good.

Do you suppose he'll take this opportunity, or
instead piss on us once again in the name of his
bogus "bipartisanship""both sides are equivalent"?

Tesha

[markpkessinger]

38. The emperor has no clothes, the emperor has no clothes, the emperor has no clothes n/t

[SidDithers]

49. +1...

laughable, isn't it.

Sid

[Admiral Loinpresser]

56. Obama bad policy, Obama bad strategy. Obama bad naivete n/t

[Ignis]

66. Post The List! Post the swimsuit photo! Post anything but criticism!

:eyes:

[a2liberal]

21. unsurprised (n/t)

[customerserviceguy]

23. A lame attempt to unify

without understanding the fundamental differences between the two groups and their motivations.

[postatomic]

24. That he even went on Leno pissed me off

I don't know what he said. Nor do I care. Won't watch Leno. Never will.

[Name removed]

39. Deleted message

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[inna]

57. just curious, what did he do? never cared for or watched him.

[Raine]

48. I HATE when they go on those kind of shows ... trivilizes the office

of the presidency. No wonder idiots like Palin, Bachman and Cain think they can run.

[RB TexLa]

42. It's fair to lump them together. They are both shows that don't have any effect on serious people.

[inna]

54. lol, i love it! absolute winner here, you and obama!

[Douglas Carpenter]

70. in case you have not noticed -Tea Party positions now completely dominates the Republican Party

and the OWS movement has put income disparity and the control of the government by moneyed interest into the mainstream of political discussion for the first time in more than a generation.

[City Lights]

45. For anyone interested, here is another quote:

“I understand the frustrations being expressed in those protests,” Obama said in an interview with ABC News in Jamestown, N.C., the first stop on the second day of his bus tour to sell his $447 billion American Jobs Act.

“In some ways, they’re not that different from some of the protests that we saw coming from the tea party,” Obama told ABC’s Jake Tapper. “Both on the left and the right, I think people feel separated from their government. They feel that their institutions aren’t looking out for them.”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1011/66271.html

[SidDithers]

50. Unrec...nt

Sid

[Number23]

52. +1

[inna]

55. thanks for reminding to rec, i would not have done that otherwise!

:thumbsup:

[occupyeverywhere]

68. Why Sid?

[radiclib]

59. Hey. whaddaya expect?

He's MIDDLE MAN!

http://www.credoaction.com/comics/2011/09/our-story-so-far/

[WinkyDink]

62. The Great Synthesizer.

[blkmusclmachine]

69. Easy to misunderestimate the 99% from your perch as one of the 1%.

Bushism intended.

[DireStrike]

71. That's great, Obama can keep his grubby hands off the movement. -nt-