Another question for Obama and\or his supporters here:

[coalition_unwilling]

Since my first such question about Obama and the bank bailouts stirred such controversy and lively debate (http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002718381), I thought I would venture a second question:

Does Obama approve or disapprove of the nation-wide crackdown on Occupy that has occurred in the past six months?

My wife and I have discussed this and have arrived at 3-4 possible scenarios:

1) Obama approves of crackdown and has directed DHS and other security organs to cooperate in it.

2) Obama approves but there has been no nationally-coordinated crackdown

3) Obama disapproves of crackdown but has no power to stop it. (Perhaps Obama has even lost control of the levers of the national security services.)

4) Obama disapproves of crackdown in private and is taking private steps to stop it but cannot go public with them.

My wife leans toward #1, while I lean toward #3

Again, I'm not asking this to snark at Obama or his supporters. Were Romney or McCrazy president, Occupiers would no doubt have died by now. And I plan to vote for Obama in 2012 because I've come to hate Romney with a visceral passion.

But I like knowing who my friends are. And I have a hard time seeing Obama as a friend to Occupy, his populist campaign rhetoric notwithstanding.

[TheWraith]

1. Number 5.

The President of the United States both has more important things to do than interfering with local police matters, and would be legally overreaching his jurisdiction if he did so.

[coalition_unwilling]

5. Occupiers are citizens of the U.S. with civil rights. Last time I checked,

the Executive Branch was responsible for making sure the laws were faithfully executed.

There have been some recent document dumps as a result of FOIA requests that suggest that the Federal Government (DHS) has been maintaining a very high level of interest in, and scrutiny of, Occupy, mainly for the planned actions at West Coast ports.

[RKP5637]

2. I think it's probably #1. I think there is a fear in gov. of OWS. There are

a lot of PO'ed people in the US. About half of the population lives in poverty or very close to it, MSM ignores the strife of much of America, and many in gov. are completely insular from the majority of Americans, they live completely aloof and privileged from the majority of the citizens.

IMO all of the activities against OWS have been centrally orchestrated across the nation, I think Obama is fully aware of it all. The 1% do not want their authority or money usurped, and the 1% own the government. Also, I think Obama gets his marching orders from the 1%. It's difficult not to believe otherwise.

[coalition_unwilling]

9. My wife agrees with you. I'm still trying to give Obama

some benefit of the doubt (hence my lean towards #3).

[RKP5637]

21. I often think he well might not have a choice given the political

climate of this country and the corporate control of congress and just about everything. I've always said money talks and has power, the rest of us just talk.

[Enrique]

3. how could he have no power to stop it?

do you mean no power politically as in if he stopped it he might lose? Or he has no power constitutionally?

[coalition_unwilling]

4. Thinking paranoid like JFK planning to pull us out of Vietnam after Nov '64 and

rogue agents and agencies in bureaucracy thwarting JFK's will.

I really don't want to think that Obama had the power to stop it but chose not to because, as someone on this thread said, he "didn't give a shit."

[Tarheel_Dem]

6. Option #5: Obama, like many of his "supporters" don't give a shit? I mean, who are we kidding?

Occupy came out of the gate pretty strong, and lost its way because they didn't want to be "affiliated". They actually preferred being "organically disorganized", and most people (including myself) stopped paying attention.

These conspiracy theories promoted by Occupy fetishists appear to be more about creating "buzz" than anything else at this point. They've obviously learned, like Donald Trump, that if you go after Obama for some asinine reason, the media will pay attention to you. Occupy got lost. Stop trying to scapegoat Obama for Occupy's failures.

[coalition_unwilling]

8. I've been called many things but I think this may be the first time

I've been called an "Occupy fetishist".

Occupy may have gotten 'lost' (to use your words), but a whole shit-load of them (over 300) were arrested in Los Angeles during the crackdown. They got lost in the Los Angeles jail system for more than 24 hours in some cases.

[Tarheel_Dem]

13. Did Gov. Brown, Mayor Villagorosa, Sen. Feinstein, Sen. Boxer, and a ton of other reps

get a call from Occupy? They're all Democrats too, ya know? Do you think there's any organized protest movement in this country who aren't at least on law enforcement's radar? And do you think that's wrong? Not every fucking thing is a government conspiracy. Conspiracy nuttery is every bit as unattractive as tea-nuttery. This is 911 forum kinda shit. :tinfoil:

[coalition_unwilling]

15. Oy vey, so now I've gone from 'Occupy fetishist' to

'Conspiracy nuttery'??

I called my City Councilperson (Rosendahl) to protest. No return call. I emailed my U.S. Representative (Karen Bass) to protest. No return email or letter. I emailed Brown, Feinstein and Boxer. No return email and no letters.

In fairness to Bass, I've now been redistricted out of her district as of Nov. 2012. So she or her staff may not have perceived any obligation to respond to a soon-to-be former constituent.

At a certain point of this strangely deafening silence, I reluctantly concluded that the Democratic Party was just fine with Occupy getting smashed up. If that's conspiracy nuttery, then I plead guilty.

[Tarheel_Dem]

18. Like I said, a lot of us "Democrats" don't really give a shit. That's what happens when you diss us

I mean, booing & hissing at Rep. John Lewis, a civil rights legend and advocate? I knew when I saw the Ron Paul signs that this was a fucked up movement, and their mission was a far cry from what they claimed it was. A lot of well meaning people got caught up in the novelty, initially, and soon bailed.

[coalition_unwilling]

19. OK, fair enough, I suppose. Weirdly enough, the Ron Paul folks had bailed out of Occupy Los Angeles

after a week or two. Never saw them down there after Oct. 15 (although there were some of those annoying End-the-Fed types running about).

Ron Kovic received an overwhelming response from OLA on the night of Nov. 28 (two days before the final raid), so not sure how the Lewis thing went down.

[SunsetDreams]

7. Instead of speculating...why don't you ask him?

Campaign Phone and address: 312-698-3670 Obama for America, P.O. Box 803638, Chicago, IL, 60680

Or Contact the White House:

Overview Submit Questions & Comments Sending Gifts
Write or Call the White House
President Obama is committed to creating the most open and accessible administration in American history. That begins with taking comments and questions from you, the public, through our website.

Call the President
PHONE NUMBERS
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
TTY/TTD
Comments: 202-456-6213
Visitor's Office: 202-456-2121
Write a letter to the President

Here are a few simple things you can do to make sure your message gets to the White House as quickly as possible.

1. If possible, email us! This is the fastest way to get your message to President Obama.

2. If you write a letter, please consider typing it on an 8 1/2 by 11 inch sheet of paper. If you hand-write your letter, please consider using pen and writing as neatly as possible.

3. Please include your return address on your letter as well as your envelope. If you have an email address, please consider including that as well.

4. And finally, be sure to include the full address of the White House to make sure you message gets to us as quickly and directly as possible:

The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/write-or-call#call

[coalition_unwilling]

10. You know something -- that's an excellent suggestion. I will

try to update the thread with what I hear from them.

BTW, what is the best email address to use?

Thanks

[SunsetDreams]

11. You're welcome :) nt

[coalition_unwilling]

12. What's the best email address? They say that's the best

way to contact them in your first post, but no email address, unless I am going blind.

[SunsetDreams]

14. You just click on their hyperlink

"email us". I changed my post to hyperlink on that part as well.

[coalition_unwilling]

16. Shoot. Sorry 'bout that. Old logo-centric fogie here. Will

email and post reply here.

Thanks again.

[SunsetDreams]

17. lol no problem

I do that sometimes too

[coalition_unwilling]

22. So here's the email I just sent:

Dear President Obama (and staff):

I have a two-part question.

1) Has there been any federal coordination of the police crackdowns on various Occupy camps across the U.S. in the past six months?

and

2) What is President Obama's opinion on the police crackdowns that have occurred on the various Occupy camps across the U.S. in the past six months?

Sincerely,

*****************

I will post whatever reply I receive if and when it arrives. Thanks again for the suggestion and details

[RKP5637]

20. I've contacted him this way and got a response back from his staff.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/submit-questions-and-comments