Is the Occupy movement out of touch?

Doug Schoen, a former Clinton pollster, has come out with a Op-Ed warning the Obama administration that supporting OWS wouldn't be in his electoral favor because the movement "reflects values that are dangerously out of touch with the broad mass of the American people." Schoen argues this because the protesters have a "deep commitment to left-wing policies: opposition to free-market capitalism and support for radical redistribution of wealth, intense regulation of the private sector, and protectionist policies to keep American jobs from going overseas."

I certainly don't see anything wrong with any of that, but I could imagine it making some voters uncomfortable. That falls apart quickly enough when you see the polling that lead Schoen to characterize the occupation this way.

"Sixty-five percent say that government has a moral responsibility to guarantee all citizens access to affordable health care, a college education, and a secure retirement—no matter the cost. By a large margin (77%-22%), they support raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans, but 58% oppose raising taxes for everybody, with only 36% in favor. And by a close margin, protesters are divided on whether the bank bailouts were necessary (49%) or unnecessary (51%)."

Its easy to see why the political establishment can't understand OWS if those are what a former Democratic pollster thinks are radical views. Social Security and Medicare are popular programs across political lines, and that statistic on raising taxes on the rich is only marginally different from the results in a Gallup poll on the topic last month, where 70% of people polled favored increasing taxes on corportations and 66% supported increasing income taxes on individuals making more than $200,000 and families making more than $250,000.

Getting President Obama reelected isn't my area of interest, and i'd be unlikely to take him very seriously regardless of how he tried to embrace OWS, should his administration decide to. However, this kind of article isn't really directed at decision makers in Washington. It's goal is to marginalize the Occupy movement and further frame American political discourse in a way that makes liberals appear radical, conservatives appear moderate, and people like you and me not appear at all.

There's a more thorough take-down of the Schoen Op-Ed by Steve Kornacki available on Salon.com.