Whitehouse Answers Question About #OccupyWallStreet

Kevin Gosztola reports:

The movement should be proud. Today, the White House was forced to respond to Occupy Wall Street’s presence. Greg Sargent has posted the question and answer:

QUESTION: Have the “Occupy Wall Street” protests reached a level of the President’s engaged awareness? Is he sympathizing with the protestors? Is he concerned about the protests at all?

CARNEY: I haven’t discussed it with him. I’m sure he’s aware of it because he follows the news. I would simply say that, to the extent that people are frustrated with the economic situation, we understand. And that’s why we’re so urgently trying to focus Congress’s attention on the need to take action on the economy and job creation.

And as regards Wall Street, I mean, one of the things that this President is very proud of is the consumer protections that were put into place through legislation that Republicans are now eager to try to dismantle. We think that’s a bad idea…Because these are common-sense consumer protections that would prevent the kind of abuse that credit card companies engaged in against credit card holders, that would protect against some of the actions that were taken that led to, or contributed to, the financial crisis that we saw in 2008. These were measures that the President felt were very important, and there’s a clear effort within the Congress to prevent the full implementation of legislation by holding up this nomination. We think that’s cynical and a bad idea.

Not surprisingly, Carney’s answer is a kind of answer you get from someone doing damage control. His celebration of so-called consumer protections passed that prevent credit card abuse isn’t going to cut it especially when the banks are now using debit card fees to gouge customers. Banks and corporations on Wall Street own the Obama Administration. They own Congress. That is why the Occupy Together movement is growing in America and the world.

But, congratulations Occupy Wall Street. You’re beginning to make power tremble. Power has to tremble for any meaningful change to happen.