President Obama still doesn’t get it. He can speak sympathetically about the Occupy Wall Street movement indefinitely, but until he does something concrete in response to the movement he remains in de facto opposition to it.
Today hundreds of protestors blocked the Port of Oakland [1], and it should be becoming increasingly clear to the President that the protests will not simply fizzle away. As long as nothing is done, nothing should be expected to change.
What should he do? Simply that which has been demanded of him from the beginning. The demand was clearly stated in the original Adbusters announcement that sparked the movement: “we demand that Barack Obama ordain a Presidential Commission tasked with ending the influence money has over our representatives in Washington.” [2]
All the President needs to do is establish a credible commission answering to the demand, and he will be able to say that he has accomplished what the movement has been calling for. How hard can that be? Why won’t he do it?
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