Classon Avenue, Brooklyn, NY – The Lesser Depression of the past fours years has set the stage for new chapter in the story of the American left. The 99 Percent Movement, otherwise known as Occupy Wall Street, has shifted the public’s attention towards the deepening of economic inequality in America. This past Saturday, Times Square swelled with protesters, as other “occupations” took place throughout the country. Meanwhile, a beleaguered yet combative President Obama has spent weeks railing against Wall Street “fat cats” and Congressional constipation in the face of 9% unemployment. The liberal establishment and the radical activist quarters that compose the left have fixed in on their common foil. As such, the left as whole appears invigorated and priming with renewed promise. It may be that this moment offers a truer corridor to change than Election Day 2008.
Taken on its own, the presidency of Barack Obama is a tale of policy achievements out weighted by political clusterfuck. On the one hand, the legislative track accomplishments of the Obama administration are vastly underappreciated. Contrary to the curious strain of denialism on both the left and right, the Affordable Care Act stands to have a dramatic impact on the welfare of millions of Americans. The “stimulus” averted an even steeper economic decline, while making substantial investments in a range of lefty priorities such as infrastructure, education, and green energy. Even the oft frowned upon Dodd-Frank legislation represents a step towards reigning in the financial industry. Yet, Obama has presided over a most epic FAIL in the realm of politics. His peculiar foray into “post partisanship”, yielded zero results with Republicans, while sapping enthusiasm from allies on the left. This warmish milk political showing, is only exacerbated by his shitty positioning as incumbent during an anemic economic recovery. Most damning is the President’s failure to establish an egalitarian vision of society in our collective political imaginations.
In delivering a truly progressive agenda, President Obama jettisoned a more progressive, populist politics. His staffing choices, policy preferences, and legislative strategy, represent a conscious decision to extract liberal ends by adhering to the rules of the political establishment. This approach has handicapped him in his dealings with the opposition, who have committed themselves to undermining his Presidency by any means necessary. His steadfast refusal to identify Republicans as the midwives of government dysfunction and prolonged economic hardship, permitted an ensemble of xenophobic, know-nothings to lay claim to the populist mantle. Were his presidency to end today, Obama would leave behind a policy legacy that most left of center politicians would covet, and a reputation in quarters of the base that few would envy.
Yet, the Obama presidency cannot be measured on its own. Any appraisal of the President must be situated within a broader consideration of the American left. LBJ’s Great Society lives alongside the Civil Rights movement, student activism, second wave feminism, and Black Muslims. The creation of federal programs such as Medicare and Medicaid represent only the legislative face of an era of change. The policies offered by FDR were not nearly as radical as anything conjured by the Socialists and assorted radicals of his time. In a nation where the levers of government have always been operated by elites, it has never been those same elites who ignited the torch of reform. Rather, it has been in the potency of a dynamic left that has caused egalitarian ideals to prevail in matters of politics and policy. Obama has not had to contend nor commiserate with a self-sustained, popular, left wing movement.
Which brings us to the emergence of Occupy Wall Street and the 99 Percent Movement. What began as a call to action in Adbusters, has blossomed into an exciting political opportunity. While it is too early to forecast longer-term changes on American politics, in the short term our political discourse has been reoriented. Americans are once again thinking about protests, activism, and civil disobedience as legitimate political instruments, giving rise to new possibilities. Parallels to the Tea Party misconstrue what is at hand in Liberty Plaza. The Tea Party was never a protest movement. Its organizers held sanctioned political rallies that were celebrated by the GOP establishment. If anything, it functioned as an inquisition of sorts for conservatism, purging those who were insufficiently right wing from the ranks. Occupy Wall Street exists apart from the Democratic Party, and outside of the politics of today.
In reviving protest politics, Occupy Wall Street has allowed a new generation of Americans to dabble in a variety of lefty politics not for sale in the Democratic Party. This is good news for Marxists, Anarchists, Choamskists, and for damn sure Obamaist. The truth is, liberalism flourishes within a vibrant lefty ecosystem. Radicals keep liberals of technocratic stripe honest. There was no surer sign of a President gone astray, than a months long fixation on deficit reduction, amidst the most severe labor crisis since the Great Depression. Clearly, the President had taken his eye off the ball.
Thankfully, the President has returned his attention to the project that unites that left: the creation of a more equitable and socially just society. The political calendar offers a partial explanation for President’s change in tone and policy focus. Holding such cynicism aside, however, we should view this as an opportunity. The President and Democrats nationally have begun to highlight the economic and political disparities that underwrite the anger felt throughout the country. Going forward, the key is to recognize that the 2012 election and whatever movement may be brewing on the left are two sides of the same coin. As no less lefty than Francis Fox Piven recently commented:
I’ve never accepted the dichotomy of electoral vs. movement politics. I’ve never thought that movement politics detracts from electoral politics… [T]here’s no inherent sapping of energy for one because of the other. So I think what the stance of lefties like you and me should be is that some people really should do electoral politics because they’re so well positioned to do it and do it effectively and because the 2012 election is important. They’re not lying. But the movement is also electoral politics.
Indeed, this is time for the left to engage on all fronts. As we push for the President’s reelection, we should also prepare for the coming conservative backlash to Occupy Wall Street. The Occupiers have taken the vital step of reaching out to organized labor and other elements of the establishment left. Sustaining the movement will require dialogue with the Democratic Party. We should also keep fighting with each other. In bringing attention to the pressing concerns of the 99 Percent—student and housing debt immediately come to mind—we are reminded that a “jobs bill” is only the beginning. It is here where we see that the President and his comrades on the left have a decidedly non-zero sum relationship. In other words, as one grows stronger so can the other. The many facets of the left can come into to sync. Hopefully it isn’t too late for that to matter. The reactionaries await.
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