Is Occupy Wall Street the primary Obama never had?

"If Occupy Wall Street were a national candidate for president, it would be blowing away every other candidate on the stage, including Barack Obama and Mitt Romney."  So say the polls, as cited by Matt Stoller in a new piece in Alternet (my bolding and reparagraphing):

The poll numbers are out. If Occupy Wall Street were a national candidate for president, it would be blowing away every other candidate on the stage, including Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.

Fifty-four percent of Americans agree with the protesters, versus 44 percent who think President Obama is doing a good job.

Seventy-three percent of Americans want prosecutions for Wall Street executives for the crisis.

Seventy-nine percent think the gap between rich and poor is too large.

Eighty-six percent say Wall Street and its lobbyists have too much power in Washington.

Sixty-eight percent think the rich should pay more in taxes.

Twenty-five percent of the public considers itself upset, 45 percent is concerned about the country and 25 percent is downright angry.

This discontent existed in 2008, says Stoller. So what's different? Stoller says the Occupy Movement is the difference:

What the occupiers have done, perhaps unwittingly, is force political elites to choose, at least publicly, between their funding stream and their popular legitimacy. Wall Street lobbyists are absolutely furious at Obama for embracing the protests, but protesters aren't particularly enthused to have establishment praise. Barney Frank goes to raise money from Wall Street, while lamenting how the protesters didn't vote in 2010.

Yes, I would say — and more. Like a pearl that needs a seed, the discontent noted above needs a focus for expression. Stoller doesn't say so (though his headline implies as much), but that's what's been missing since the billionaires blew a hole in the public budget. A seed; a focus.

The Tea Party movement, corrupted by its funding and its focus on tribes and race, could not be that seed, except imperfectly. A primary challenge to Obama could have been that seed — and could still be. (In fact, Matt Stoller has written as much.)

But no one bold enough — or with nothing to lose — has stepped up to that plate.

In its stead, we have this, the Occupy Movement. Like a primary candidate, it's calling out its opponents. Persistence, please. At this point, you're all the resistance we have.

GP