The Washington Post is reporting that President Obama's spokesman has said that it's up to New York and other municipalities to decide how much force to use in dealing with Occupy Wall Street demonstrations in order to "balance" the Constitutional rights of the peaceful protesters with the cities' municipal health/safety concerns.
I'm sure some here will find a way to disagree, but this statement is effectively a green light from the President to 1%-er Mike Bloomberg (and other mayors) to use as much force as he sees fit without expecting any hassles from the Obama admin. I don't think Bloomberg could ask for a clearer endorsement of his actions. Protesters: you're on your own.
So, once again the President has been doing the bidding of the 1%, while paying lip service to the "frustrations" of the Occupy movement.
Earlier, several diarists had discussed a report in the Minneapolis Examiner which claims:
'Occupy' crackdowns coordinated with federal law enforcement officials
The crackdowns have been eerily similar, lending some credibility to the report's assertion that theses are being coordinated by the Obama administration: the crackdowns have occurred in the most heavily Democratic cities (e.g., Portland, Oakland, Berkeley, New York, although a few conservative cities have also been targeted) and the tactics used were very similar (late night raids by riot police descending with overwhelming force to enforce minor regulations while the 24-hour news media "happens to be asleep"). The main points of the report also appear to be corroborated by the comments of Oakland Mayor Jean Quan to the BBC, when she said:
I was recently on a conference call of 18 cities who had the same situation, where what had started as a political movement and a political encampment ended up being an encampment that was no longer in control of the people who started them.
President Obama, who had promptly denounced violent crackdowns in the Middle East without regard to frivolous municipal regulations, has not condemned the violent crackdowns here at home, he has not denied the reports that his administration coordinated these crackdowns, & has not said that it was an unauthorized effort.
To the contrary, President Obama has effectively endorsed, and possibly assisted with, the crackdowns.