Obama: Occupy Wall Street ‘Not That Different’ From Tea Party Protests

[Freddie Stubbs]

Source: ABC News

President Obama, who has become a target of the Occupy Wall Street protests sweeping the country, today embraced the economic frustration voiced on the streets and said in an exclusive interview with ABC News that his vision for the U.S. economic system is best suited to resolve protesters’ concerns.

“I understand the frustrations being expressed in those protests,” Obama told ABC News senior White House correspondent Jake Tapper in the interview to air this evening on ABC News “Nightline” from Jamestown, N.C.

“In some ways, they’re not that different from some of the protests that we saw coming from the Tea Party. 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,” he said.

Obama said the most important thing he can do as president is express solidarity with the protesters and redouble his commitment to achieving what he described as a more egalitarian society.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/10/obama-occupy-wall-street-not-that-different-from-tea-party-protests/

[Donnachaidh]

1. clueless.

unbelievably clueless and short sighted. :eyes:

[pmorlan1]

52. In the bubble

Clueless was the word that came to my mind too when I read the headline. Good god.

[pampango]

129. "On the left...people feel separated from their government. They feel that their institutions aren’t

looking out for them..." Is that not largely accurate? It certainly seems to be an accurate summary of the attitude of many DUers.

"On the right ... people feel separated from their government. They feel that their institutions aren’t looking out for them ..." Isn't that an accurate assessment of the right's (at the very least the teabaggers') view of the Obama administration? To say that they think that Obama is not "looking out for them" seems to be an understatement, if anything.

His mistake IMHO is that he seems to give them some level of equivalency by putting them in the same sentence the way he did.

[No Elephants]

133. Clueless or disingenuous?

Do you think the President is totally unaware of the New Yorker article entitled,


Covert Operations
The billionaire brothers who are waging a war against Obama.
by Jane Mayer August 30, 2010

Read more http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/30/100830fa_fact_mayer#ixzz1bGMlWLK3


That article spells out, among many other things, the Koch brothers' role in conceiving and founding the Tea Party. And I am sure this is not the only source of that information.

The President has people on his WH staff and on his campaign staff whose full time job it is to know what the press is saying.

I think, if we know it, it is safe to assume the President knows it. So the question is not "Why is our President clueless," but "Why is our President pretending to believe that the Tea Party and OWS are similar?

[rfranklin]

2. what is known as "false equivalency"

Sorry Mr. President, but it just ain't so. The Tea Party was astroturf. As far as I can see, OWS is the people.

[snagglepuss]

14. Exactly.

[Scuba]

16. +1,000

[think]

55. well put

[L0oniX]

62. +1

[DallasNE]

63. While That Is Completely True

So is the point the President is making when he says "people feel separated from their government. They feel that their institutions aren’t looking out for them". At our local Occupy event several Ron Paul supporters marched with the group rather than joining the Tea Party Patriot group that was protesting against the Occupy event. This is fracturing the Tea Party and that can't be all bad.

[Marnie]

68. That is wyh OWS must not become political.

It must not allow itself to be coopted by either party.
That way it will remain the big tent that any group of working class Americans can become supportive of.

[xiamiam]

72. impossible with disconnected statements like this..he doesn't get it..still just politics with him.n

[aquart]

79. Could you define "political"?

[meow2u3]

81. By political, we mean partisan

We cannot become partisan because, even though OWS is political, it's nonpartisan.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

118. they were pretty fractured a year ago.

Now that most Americans see the Tea Baggers for who and what they are, they would win no offices nationally. The fact that they remain over-represented in Congress and within the GOP is more a function of the sugar daddies who concocted this group in the first place, than any popularity that their policies and ideas might have.

[lsewpershad]

74. Agreed

Cut the crap mr Prez. Tea party protest was bought and sold by corporations....and the nut jobs did not even care.

[aquart]

77. +1

[BadGimp]

85. re: "false equivalency" - he knows that - he was playing to the "crowd"

He was engaging in a little bit of triangulation imo. Trying to mix metaphors so as to control the debate in a way that serves the interests of the American people. Oversimplifying and attacking "these" remarks is a waste of time.

He knows damn well how unlike OWS the Tea Party movement was/is.

However I still have little faith he will or will even be allowed to DO much. But talk a good game? Oh yeah..

[Chan790]

103. Republican Donuts.

Dunkin is owned by Carlyle, every time you buy Dunkin Donuts you're putting money into Asshole Bushs' pockets.

Shame on Obama for buying impure GOP doughnuts.

:hide:

/faux purity trolling

[No Elephants]

134. And here I thought people had finally stopped trying to sell the 3 dimensional chess player myth.

[harun]

125. Correct, Astro-turfed fake movement created by the Corporate Media != grassroots demonstrations.

[OHdem10]

3. Good!!

[tblue]

4. Can you say 'Tone Deaf'?

I feel like he just kicked them in the teeth.

OOPS! Did I just whine?

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[RoccoR5955]

5. Is he out of touch, or what?

I mean he's so isolated from WE THE PEOPLE. Only his tenders get to him, and tell him what they want him to hear. Therefore, he doesn't get to hear the really bad stuff.

[SemperEadem]

61. what president ever was?

name me one president who wasn't only "gotten to" by his tenders, telling him what they wanted him to hear? They ALL get there once the ceremony is over and the manilla envelope is handed off to them by the previous president.

[unpossibles]

6. I agree. In some ways they are similar

The largest difference being that the TP used lies, racism, and emotional terrorism to get their way. Oh, and the TP are backed by the corporations buying influence in our government.

Seriously though, I don't have a problem with this statement, and I see it as Obama trying to get more mainstream conservatives (if any are left) and TPers to appreciate if not support the OWS protests. Right now the TPers assume the OWS are staged, want to destroy America, God, and Capitalism, etc. Sadly nothing Obama says will convince them otherwise, but I can't really blame him for trying to draw a parallel in order to show perspective.

[joeybee12]

8. You can't try and reason with the insane...and yet Obama keeps trying...nt

[frylock]

7. just wow

[FrenchieCat]

9. Actually, I somewhat disagree with this remark from our President......

even if I can see the basic similarities he mentions.....

I find that there are big differences in that the corporate Media actively
and collectively promoted the Tea Party big time.....
and magnified their importance and their numbers....allowing them to win 2010!

No such luck for the OWS. It has no corporate funding, and if anything,
the media is still attempting to say that OWS doesn't know what it wants....

Perhaps this will change, but till then, the difference is astroturf vs. real grassroots,
and besides the fact that they are movements based on frustration, that is where the similarities
end....IMO.

So the statement is barely true....but I believe perhaps this will help those who are somewhat afraid of their own shadow (read moderates/suburbans),
who may have supported the tea party in spirit at one point, not feel any angs at supporting the OWS,
and perhaps getting their asses out there to join the protest,
because the media is trying to portray the OWS as a more dangerously lot ...and in a way,
the President equating the two in terms of frustration may be legitimizing the OWS as much as the media
has worked hard to legitimize the Tea Party...and they did work awfully hard at that...
hell, CNN even held a debate co-sponsored by the Tea Party.
I'd love to see that happening with OWS. Wouldn't that be something! :bounce:

[SteveM]

47. Good one. nt

[indepat]

122. Summed up magnificently in one cartoon worth thousands of words: sort of surprised the

TV reporter's hair is not a darker shade. :patriot:

[alp227]

10. agree and disagree in some ways.

he's right that both the left and right are angry at government, but he fails to take sides accurately.

[Exultant Democracy]

11. The President is trying to co-opt the Tea Party to support OWS, this is a good thing

look at my post history I'm not an Obama apologist because I call them like I see them. In this instance I see a very savy political strategy to de-fang the Tea Party as a potential counter movement to OWS.

[nichomachus]

29. Oh yeah, that eleventy dimensional chess thing again. Pffft.

[Exultant Democracy]

31. Not really that esoteric, pretty boiler plate politics 101.

[Name removed]

33. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Exultant Democracy]

39. OMG, check my post history. I have been a vocal opponent of this administration

but facts are stubborn things and this is reality. Do you not understand that coopting popular movements is common in politics, you suggest that when you call it "11th dimensional chess". If this is the case then you simply don't have the information needed to make a judgement call.

This was not an endorsement of the Tea Party in any way it was an attempt to transfer any remaining political capital to the OWS and nullify the Tea Baggers ability to act as a counter force.

I've walked up to Rahm in person and told him off so you should kindly stop the uncalled for and absurd personal attacks.

[nichomachus]

42. I would have hoped that he would have moved on to politics 201 by now.

He's failing at an epic scale

[LanternWaste]

141. I imagine that for many people...

I imagine that for many people, "pffft" is the their strongest and most capable argument.

Couple that with minimizing and trivializing another person's position through implication, and we're left with... (I'm going with 'mere petulance', but it's certainly open to interpretation)

[Ikonoklast]

37. There are subtleties in Mr. Obama's words.

He knows the Teabaggers aren't happy with the Banks or Wall Street, too...interesting choice of words.

[SharksBreath]

88. The teabaggers want less regulation.

They want Dodd Frank repealed.

Like all Republicans.

[Ikonoklast]

97. Not the ones on the street.

The ones in Congress, yes, of course, all they really are, or ever were, were Republicans, much to the chagrin of all those flag-waving, gun-toting 'protesters' who thought they were voting in change agents.

They have all been co-opted by the Republican power structure.

Where are those crowds now?

You'd think they'd climb on board their Hoverrounds and be out there counter-protesting OWS, but so far, there has only been some sporadic token resistance from the Teabaggers, and only the professional pols that put that mantle upon themselves.


I see Buyer's Remorse as they realize they'd been had, as the Banks and Wall Street are still pissing down their necks.

[pmorlan1]

56. 11 dimensional chess?

Well this is a familiar comment.

The only time Obama is savvy is when he is able to snooker part of his base.

[Exultant Democracy]

58. I don't see how this applies in this isntance. He is attempting to snooker the tea party

to the advantage of OWS. Like I said else-ware their is nothing complicated or 11th dimensional about this, it is boiler plate politics 101.

[Igel]

89. No.

He's trying to increase understanding for the OWS movement and present it as unthreatening to the majority of people (or at least mainstreet conservatives), if not something similar to what others feel and therefore something they can be sympathetic to.

Just as the left looked at a few facts and made what really was fairly grassroots into astroturf. I know people that went to "tea parties," and none of them went because they were instructed--whether or not the germ of the movement was "fake" or not, what clustered around it was real enough. It's crucial to deny this because if we don't we're stuck with accepting that maybe there's not just One True Path.

There are some crucial differences, though. The TP mostly wanted their values, which are largely at odds with the OWS. The TP wanted to keep what they had--government benefits as well as wealth/income; the OWS wants to keep government benefits but also get more wealth/income. The first bit is similar; the second, completely opposed to each other. The first wanted a more conservative value set, one that largely was the dominant mainstream values 50 or 60 years ago; the second wants a more liberal value set, one that they try to say was really the mainstream for the last few hundred years (although really only mainstream since the late '60s, and that with competition from older value systems).

Both had a wide mix of supporters. The TPers I knew ranged in age from 25, single, in grad school to 70+, married, PhD, to relatively uneducated (perhaps a year of college, perhaps none) and from 25 to 80. Few had no prospects; those who did viewed the lack of prospects as produced by a stifling government. The OWS folk I've seen (haven't talked to any, my life is split between a small nuclear family and a vast horde of underage teens with few in between) typically feel not like they want to defend the system but reject it because either they were wronged or prospectless through no fault of their own--even though they made choices that pretty much entailed that others would have to rescue them.

Except for the contingents that want to preserve their benefits they line up fairly clearly on opposite sides of the "government should include a well thought out system of positive rights" line. Most TPers are in favor of few positive rights imposed on their fellow citizens; most OWS favor a range of positive rights being imposed--even if they would be imposed on far, far more than the 1% of their fellow citizens that they really feel should be utterly disenfranchised. Both have their hypocrites--more than a few TPers that can't admit that their benefits are paid for by others and comprise a positive right, a set of obligations imposed on others to benefit them; more than a few OWSers really don't understand that effect follows cause. Both are angry, but I can't bring myself to believe that unreasoned self-centered anger is much of a justification for anything.

[Iliyah]

60. The corporate media will not tell you

but a sizeable amount of the tea bots that spew such hateful things then are now beginning to see the light and do welcome OWS as they have realized that the Kochs, Rove, Armey, US Chambers, and others, including the 5 idiot justices are NOT in their best interest. These tea bots have joined OWS.

[lamp_shade]

13. That was the correct response.

[jaysunb]

22. Agreed

but the naive and the haters will turn it into something that will help the meme being planted. :evilfrown:

[nichomachus]

30. If you're a one percenter

[redqueen]

15. No, except for the racism. And the guns. And the greed. And the corporate backing.

Seriously. WTF.

[EFerrari]

34. LOL

:spray:

[KurtNYC]

140. And the tear gassing, the demonization by MSM, the pepper spray,

the Fox News rolling paper give-aways, the shout down of Geraldo Rivera and the seizing of generators, the number of attendees, the duration, the goals, and the methods. Aside from those differences, there is no difference between the 2.

[xiamiam]

17. WOW. nt

[Speck Tater]

18. It's structurally, functionally, systemically different. Not even slightly similar to teabaggers. nt

[RBInMaine]

94. Once again, people don't get it. He is talking about detachment from government, etc.

[William769]

19. K&R.

[kenfrequed]

20. Thanks again

For the seven dimensional vulcan chess kick to the teeth Mr President.

[JI7]

21. The Tea Party hates him because he is Black

[midnight]

23. Tea party comes locked and loaded....

[valerief]

24. Is this his way of uniting "real" Tea Party people with OWS? nt

[nbcouch]

25. oh sure...

On the one hand you have an astroturf, heavily financed, homogenous fantasy-based group whose numbers have been dwindling rapidly for some time. On the other you have a true grassroots movement, populated from all walks of life, with real concerns and complaints, that's growing rapidly every day and has no corporate backing.

Yeah, they're a lot alike.

[SoapBox]

26. What?!?!?! One word, Prez O...ASTROTURF!

Hello???

All that T.Bagger crap that was started and paid for by Armey and other Crazies!!!!

...tone deaf is right.

[Poll_Blind]

27. He is one majorly fucking out of touch dude.

PB

[Skittles]

96. CORRECT

it is safe to say he just does NOT.FUCKING.GET.IT.

[Redford]

28. The only thing in common is that they are both protests

aside from that they are as different as they can be.

[eridani]

114. There's one more thing

Both are carbon-based life forms.

[nichomachus]

32. He's part of the problem n/t

[EFerrari]

38. We needed a fighter and we elected an appeaser.

As a child of an alcoholic myself, it's unmistakable. Avoid conflict at any cost.

[xiamiam]

53. it is unnatural ..these are not the same movements and to compare is just acting naive..he is not

stupid..but there just doesn't seem to be substance in that suit. I don't get it...I just don't..and its been like that for me almost since day 1

[Uncle Joe]

35. ABC left out some critically important qualifying words in the title from Obama's actual quote.

“In some ways, they’re not that different from some of the protests that we saw coming from the Tea Party. 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,” he said.

I believe Obama is correct.

Thanks for the thread, Freddie Stubbs.

[mac56]

41. +1

I just posted a similar point.

[frylock]

44. you mean like from the third paragraph?

“In some ways, they’re not that different from some of the protests that we saw coming from the Tea Party. 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,” he said.

is that the part ABC omitted to include that was included in the original post as linked from ABC?

[mac56]

45. I believe Uncle Joe specified "in the title."

n/m

[Uncle Joe]

46. The third paragraph is not the same as the title and with too many people, the title is what they

focus on.

"Obama: Occupy Wall Street ‘Not That Different’ From Tea Party Protests"


P.S. I have little doubt that corporate media, network, ABC knew what they were doing with that kind of title.

[Robb]

36. Judging from the responses at the link, the Tea Party disagrees.

And obviously OWS hates the comparison.

[mac56]

51. Teabaggers disagree?

Then he's on to something.

[Igel]

90. Of course.

Both have to deny that the other has any valid complaint. If the other side has a valid complaint, there's room for dialog and the need for compromise. Neither side can see beyond their own wants and needs, and consequently wants and needs to dehumanize and vilify, to delegitimize the other side. In fact, the very idea that they might be similar in this is enough to provoke cries of rage and indignation simply because there can't possibly be *anything* that *we* have in common with (shudder, cringe) *them*.

In this, they're not just similar but well nigh identical.

[mac56]

40. "In some ways, they’re not that different from some of the protests

that we saw coming from the Tea Party."

This is hardly a wrap-around bear hug of the Teabaggers. It's actually a pretty savvy step toward neutralizing them. People need to get a grip.

[workinclasszero]

43. OMG! The other day it was ease up on those nice wall street traitors

and today its OWS = the MFing NAZI TEA PARTY?

I am speechless...wow...

Does the white house not have internet access? No tv? Theres a 99% revolution exploding all over the WORLD and one of the first sparks was in Zuccotti park NYC and the president of the USA hasn't got a CLUE!

This is really amazing and sad at the same time.

[SteveM]

48. Hard truth: Obama wants nothing to do with anyone to the left of LBJ. nt

[MFrohike]

108. Left of LBJ?

LBJ is, by far, the most liberal president in American history. A more accurate statement might have been "anyone to the left of Joe Lieberman."

[SteveM]

123. Split the diff.: To the left of Dwight Eisenhower.

[MFrohike]

124. Nailed it

Good call.

[SteveM]

126. Note the BofA plan in DU's lead story. Ready made for OWS!! nt

[MFrohike]

127. My thoughts exactly

Another bailout coming just 3 years later? It would be far easier to accept if they didn't cry every time somebody suggested regulating them for their own good.

[SteveM]

135. When corruption becomes sport, it must then become public sport...

After all, money itself becomes blase for those wishing to "stand out from the rest." You must have something else to strive for, and that is sport. And even here, among the financial "sports," it becomes a matter of doing it in public. Like the dirty dick in a pulp porno novel who is discovered banging the hired help: He merely leers, parts and turns slightly, to let you get a close look at his action.

The bigger the audience, the better. That's power and self-possession.

[AlbertCat]

49. What pandering!

Did he see guns there? (on the protesters... not the cops)

Maybe he saw a sign with him depicted as a witch doctor there... or as Hitler...




Obama is one lousy Dem.

[lamp_shade]

50. Good God. They seem to appear out of nowhere. **bangs head on wall**

[julian09]

54. He said "In SOME ways, they're not that different from SOME of

the protests of tea party. The Tea party was hijacked by the Koch brothers to do their bidding, disrupt town hall meeting, bussed around the country at Koch expense to create impression it was more universal than it was. Tea party has agenda of smaller govt, less spending; translation end new deal, they are too stupid to know sos and medicare are part of it. With signs, "saying don't touch my sos" Anti Obama racists, primarily hiding behind debt ceiling and deficit spending, they had no qualms about wall street debacle, the defense spending, against wall street reform. Armed at town halls, not allowing discussion, displaying provocative and divisive signs.
OWS could not be more different, not party affiliated, inclusive, not racist, peaceful not threatening. There demands are simply, let people run country, not corporations, economic fairness. Obama was soliciting the tea party members with those concerns, to align themselves with OWS instead of radical right TP.

[xiamiam]

57. they are VERY different..their consciousness is different..and to pretend it is not is just that

pretending..it is time for a new day ..not filled with dinosaurs..the kids will take all of us there..we deserve it and nothing can stop the evolution of consciousness..nothing..including pretending it is not obvious

[frylock]

65. the tea party was CREATED by the koch brothers

[Hawkowl]

59. He doesn't understand shit.

He wouldn't understand shit if he stepped in it and tracked it all over the oval office. He is part of the problem with his kow towing to Wall Street.

[Name removed]

64. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[lunasun]

66. beffore becoming president he gave a speech about no red states and no blue states

but a United States . Calling for 99% to come together like OWS- cant get much closer to that concept on at least some subjects (-1% of course and then not all of them either are mercenary pricks )

But the tea party it is not looking to do anything but divide and conquer so they can install red state politics everywhere not a unity project

Sort of insulting to OWS
missed mark here IMO
and if he thinks is getting at the hearts and minds of teabaggers he missed the "closed" sign I think they hate him for the most part

[Marnie]

67. So where are our Koch Bros?

Where are our Old Testament intolerance?
Where are our guns?
Where is our racism?
Where is our hatred of women?
Where is our Imperialism?
Where is our lust to destroy the Constitution?
Where is our military industrial complex?
Where is our Scalia
Where is our Rush?
Where is our intolerant of religions other than our own?
Where are our assassinations?
Where is our Bush Chaney?

But most importantly where is our great leader?

We need a great leader.

[madrchsod]

69. to bad he does`t get out side his bubble......

[greyl]

70. "In some ways, they’re not that different from some of the [Tea Party]protests"

In some ways, the headline is not the same as what Obama actually said.

[Uncle Joe]

73. Here's another point, if the Occupy Wall Street movement represents the best interests of 99%

of the American People, by definition that must include members of the misguided Tea Party as well and by linking some commonalities of the two, Obama De Facto strengthens the Occupiers' political position.

I believe the Occupiers are grassroots and the Tea Party was primarily an astroturf creation but having said that, there should be no doubt that some members of the Tea Party are facing the same frustrations as those of the Occupiers and genuinely believed in their protest, whether they were brainwashed or not.

So if the goal is to help 99% of the American People to regain economic and judicial justice over the top 1% this seems like a wise, inclusive political statement to me, that is consistent with the Occupier's stated position.

[KamaAina]

71. Bull!

Show me a bunch of teabaggers outside for weeks at a time, and I'll show you a campground. :P

[laureloak]

75. "IN SOME WAYS they're not that different from SOME of the

protests from the Tea Party." That's true. The Tea Party had the same priorities as OCCUPY in the beginning.

Democrats should stop twisting every damn statement anybody makes and leave that assinine tactic to the republicans.

[bitchkitty]

76. Oh, please. Obama knows nothing.

if he understood the OWS movement, we would never have a need for such a movement in the first place.

[Uncle Joe]

78. The same could be said for JFK, LBJ and the Civil Rights movement.

[Fantastic Anarchist]

80. I wish they'd stop comparing us to those morons.

[Mosaic]

82. We're stuck with him

Because we don't have the power to primary him. The beltway consensus, note that's different than the American consensus, is that he will not be primaried. Until we establish direct democracy, rewrite the constitution to be modern, and disband congress we won't have the power we need to control this country and our lives! It may sound radical now, but one day it will be mundane.

[coalition_unwilling]

109. OWS is the people's primary. Who gives a shit or a flying fuck

whether any Dem is courageous enough to stand up to Obama's warmed-over Reagan-Bushism? OWS will eventually consign today's Dem Party to the dustbin of history. Only question now is timing, whether it happens in 2012 or 2016. My bet is 2012. The house of cards is ready to fall down and only takes one or two strong breaths to topple it.

Think Paris, 1789 or the Berlin Wall.

[FreeBillClinton]

83. Obama is clueless.

[katty]

84. OWS fortunately is an 'informed, experienced' citizens protest

nothing like the cracked cups that make up the Tea Party-there is no comparison.

[KoKo]

86. To Obama there's "No Difference" but to the rest of us THERE's HUGE DIFFERENCE!

But, I guess he's just "pandering to his base" and needed to trash the rest because it's better for the country than the T-Party.

At least he's got his "Campaign Speak" down good. Otherwise we could be very worried about his Re-Election.

At this point I'm not worried about Obama and his Re-Election because he is very good at what he does and so is his whole administration.

[muntrv]

87. Uh Barack? They are different! The OWS protesters can SPELL!

[Turbineguy]

91. OWS is protesting,

among other things, the 600 trillion dollar derivatives market. Teabaggers don't know what a derivative is.

[marasinghe]

92. seems he took to his Ivy League brainwashing like a duck takes to water.

perfectly pathetic, if he really believes such nonsense; completely cynical, if he doesn't.

and clueless - if he did say '.... the most important thing he can do as president is express solidarity with the protesters ....'.
any rational human could see a hundred & one things a President could do, above & beyond rhetoric, to help achieve a more egalitarian society.

OWS is totally on the mark: we have to force this thing through to a resolution - ourselves.

[smiley]

93. except that it is actually a real movement.

Not some Billionaire funded, don't take my god and guns, he's a socialist, made-up movement.

[Skittles]

95. FUCKING CLUELESS

[rug]

98. That just might describe the choice in 2012.

[Autumn]

99. ‘Not That Different’ kind of like

turtles and eagles are the same. WTF :puke:

[Zorra]

100. Bravo! "Obama said the most important thing he can do as president

is express solidarity with the protesters and redouble his commitment to achieving what he described as a more egalitarian society."
:applause"

Honestly,I don't care if he thinks we're like Teabaggers if he seriously and sincerely attempts to achieve a more egalitarian society.

[Vidar]

101. Obama only answers to the bankers and corporations. The people

mean nothing to him.

[Carolina]

102. not that different from... some protests coming from the Tea Party

he is so full of shit...
:puke:
:puke:
:puke:
:puke:
:puke:
:puke:
:puke:
:puke:
:puke:
:puke:
:puke:
:puke:
:puke:
:puke:
:puke:
:puke:
:puke:

[woo me with science]

104. Same equivocating crap.

Blah blah blah extremists on this side, blah blah blah extremists on that side, and I am the adult in the middle.

:eyes:

[6000eliot]

105. I saw the interview. This headline is a misrepresentation of what he said.

He was talking about frustration with government being behind both movements. He didn't say they were both equivalent in any other way.

[lutefisk]

106. Our President is "fair and balanced"............n/t

[coalition_unwilling]

107. Obama is now officially a douche. Un-friggin-believable ignorance and

arrogance combined in a single sentence. "Not that different" indeed.

[DVDGuy]

110. Obama has a point ...

Long time reader, first time poster.

I'm not as big a fan of President Obama as I am of Candidate Obama, but I think there is some truth that the anger behind the Tea Party movement is a similar type of anger that's causing people to join OWS.

There are some big differences, but fundamentally, both groups are unhappy with the direction the country is going in, the dysfunctional politics in the country, the current economic situation and the treatment Wall Street were given after the financial crisis that they caused.

But the TP agenda has been commandeered by the extreme right wing factions of the Republican party, and so other issues, such as race, religion, "socialism" have been thrown in, with some sprinkling of misguided/confused libertarianism (they want government big enough to enforce marriage, sexuality, and a woman's reproductive rights, but small enough to not actually exist). And as such, the TP movement has become a confused and conflicted bunch, for example, the very same people who are calling for less handouts to Wall Street are also calling for less regulation, the best handout Wall Street can ever hope for.

I really do think *some* TP supporters are being misled into supporting the TP cause, when what they actually want is a lot closer to what the OWS movement is trying to bring in. Remember that some of these folks probably voted for Obama in the last election, because they too wanted real change. Progressives needs to realize this is an opportunity, to get some of these misguided fools on-board to get some real change happening (with or without Obama at the helm), instead of alienating them further into the extremes of right wing politics.

[lamp_shade]

111. Right wing trolls HAVE NOT.... I repeat HAVE NOT.... infiltrated DU.

[truthisfreedom]

112. +100, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000

We'll be sweeping the diarrheaous effluence out the door all through the election cycle.

[lamp_shade]

115. I'm afraid so.... "diarrheaous effluence"... LMAO. n/t

[lovuian]

113. He is in denial

as are the Republicans

Status Quo is the name of their game

[Doctor_J]

116. Triangulating himself into early retirement

what a disappointment

[Freddie Stubbs]

120. Triangulation worked pretty well for Bill Clinton

[Doctor_J]

136. Clinton had a booming economy and stared down Gingrinch

Obama has a depression, millions in the streets protesting his policies, and hasn't beaten the Repukes at anything. All he's done is give in to the people who want to destroy him.

[Freddie Stubbs]

137. And yet he is leading every Republican candidate in the polls

[pampango]

117. If he had said, "On the left, people feel separated from their government.

They feel that their institutions aren’t looking out for them..", there would be much agreement with that statement here.

If he had said, "On the right (at least on the tea party far-right), people feel separated from their government. They feel that their institutions aren’t looking out for them...", there would be much agreement with that statement also here. On thing we can acknowledge is that teabaggers are not happy with the actions of Obama's administration.

The fact that he said both in the same sentence with the phrase "they're not that different" is what is hard to take.

Better if he had said: "For entirely different and more liberal reasons the left feels as disconnected from their government and its institutions as the Tea Party..."

[City Lights]

119. I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Or maybe just throw in the towel.

Really, Mr. President?

:eyes:

[Steerpike]

121. What I want to know

is...what is he doing, exactly, to promote a more egalitarian society?

[Matariki]

128. Except for this...

[bullwinkle428]

130. Nice observation, President Split-the-Baby Down-the-Middle!

:banghead:

[justiceischeap]

131. 'Not That Different': Exactly, people are involved in both

that's as far as the similarities play.

[loyalsister]

139. Different goals

but both want some kind of change in a direction that they feel suits their needs.

AND both have compared themselves to previous social movements. Glenn Beck compared them to the civil rights movement as have many from OWS. Neither is even close.
But, both want to be important movements that bring about some kind of change- and it started with anger.

He's exactly right.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

149. yes, certainly. its wasnt like goats and bananas. def. both are comprised of humans

[No Elephants]

132. I don't understand why Democrats don't tell the truth about the Koch brothers and the Tea Party and

Dick Armey.

The Tea Party is nothing like OWS, not in its origins, or its organization (or lack thereof) or media backing or goals or any other way.

[Bragi]

145. Quite so

What is most disturbing is that the President has had weeks to work out his message on this, and still chooses to go with the "false equivalency" error the MSM has been pushing from the get-go.

[Downwinder]

138. Arrest record seems to show different. n/t

[lonestarnot]

142. Ackety!

:thumbsdown:

[Islandlife]

143. He can say anything he wants; I've stopped listening.

[Bragi]

144. Is OWS also a Koch-funded astroturf group?

The Tea Party is a Koch-funded astroturf group.

Does the President think OWS is also an astroturf group?

What a fucking stupid statement.

What is truly sad is that this would have been a thought-out message, not a mistaken throwaway line.

[BlueIris]

146. Not sure what he's trying to achieve here, but I think this fails.

Wall Street's not coming back, Sir. And neither are those students, unemployed or veterans you just slammed. These hurtful (and inaccurate) remarks don't help you with the left or right.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

147. LOL. where is our glenn beck? where is our fox news?

where are the politicians who go to bat for us?

and umm OWS has no guns

[blueclown]

148. What did he say wrong?

Read beyond the headlines, people.