Occupy Wall Street

I can't help but think that the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement is a direct reaction to the progressives disappointment with President Obama. Yes, things are bad. We have what looks like an essentially jobless recovery, and gaps between the haves and the have-nots are reaching unprecedented levels, but even with this, the OWS movement would quite possibly not have happened, and likely not gained the momentum it has, if progressives felt they had a voice in the White House.

Unfortunately they don't. We all knew when we put him in office that Obama was more of a centrist than a progressive. At least that's what his voting record implied. But the campaign speeches and campaign promises at least provided some hope that once in office Obama would be the champion of progressive causes he could have been. However, after escalating operations in Afghanistan, failing to close Guantanamo, signing into law four more years of the Patriot Act, and a long list of other disappointments, it is clear that Obama will not be delivering on that hope.

This means that progressives have painted themselves into a corner. Coming out of the dark years with G.W. Bush, Obama was seen as perhaps more than we could have hoped for in terms of someone who could restore our confidence. Someone who could take steps to turn back at least some of the damage done. In foreign policy someone who would build bridges with the Middle East, finding a peaceful long-term solution to our differences. But this was not meant to be. And worse, with Obama's approval ratings at an all-time low, it is likely he will be replaced with a Republican in 2012. Yikes!

So, if this is all true, where do progressives turn?

The first step to fixing a problem is admitting there is one. In some collective sense, with the OWS movement the American middle class may be doing just that.

I'll admit, my first reaction to the movement was that America was a nation of laws, and if people are unhappy with the greed coming out of Wall Street then they have two choices: prosecute those that have broken the laws and/or modify the laws to make the behavior they disagreed with illegal. Either way, they were yelling at the wrong people. They should be in Washington going after the law makers (and the SEC, etc.)

While I still agree that it will need to come to this for the movement to affect change, I am warming up to the initial phase of targeting Wall Street. After all, this is where all the trouble began, and no doubt this is where we (politicians and citizens alike) will need to focus our attention if we are going fix what is broken.