Open Thread: Have Alinsky Rules Returned for Obama?

October 5th, 2011 10:57 AM

The "Occupy Wall Street" protests that have been occurring across the country in recent days do not appear much different than any other liberal protest group. They are supported by George Soros, MoveOn.org, and labor unions, this time with banks as their target. The protestors have posted themselves outside financial buildings around the country, most predominantly in New York City's financial district, with demands to tax and arrest bankers.

National polls have shown that rather than blame administration policies for the economy, the public still tends to blame banks for economic trouble. With the large banking corporations as the enemy, instead of the current administration, do you think the Occupy Wall Street protests have the attributes of an Alinsky-type political machine? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

The Occupy Wall Street protestors are the same people who elected Obama in 2008. According to an Investor's Business Daily editorial:

Last Aug. 11, former Obama "green czar" and community organizer Van Jones sent out an email to supporters calling for a new plan to "Rebuild the Dream." It called for infrastructure jobs to "rebuild our crumbling bridges" — exactly the line Obama presented in subsequent speeches.

In the same email, Jones — a self-described communist — called for jailing big bankers and instituting a "tiny fee" to siphon billions from bank transactions "to spend on Main Street job-creation," which are also things Obama favors. [...]

Now we have the president himself saying he feels "sympathy" for the aims of the Wall Street protestors, while the rest of Obama's political machine — Big Labor — is marching to join in. It's no coincidence that Occupy Wall Street's first demand is a sop to Big Labor: ending all free trade. [...]

As the mob seeks to hammer into the public's mind that Wall Street is the enemy, it's not hard to see the political value to Obama: deflecting attention from the economic failures of this presidency.

Do you see similarities to Alinsky tactics in the way the middle class has been turned against large corporations instead of the administration?