Little Beirut keeps rockin' in the free world

Filling the streets

Well, Portland, we did it.  We once again led the way, demonstrating that we're worthy of the honorific conferred onto us by George Bush the Elder.  We're still "Little Beirut."

Initial reports had the size of yesterday's Occupy Portland march at 3,000 to 5,000.  But those estimates have been revised upward.  Some reports have the number of demonstrators at 10,000.  Still not as big as the pre-Iraq invasion demonstration (which approached 30,000) but very big.  According to KGW, Portland's demonstration was the biggest of the day, even though bigger cities (Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston) had their own "Occupy" marches.

Cops and demonstrators were all well-behaved

Punditry and national political figures have taken notice of the movement. First, they mocked.  Then, they belittled.  Now, with the movement growing (to their utter bafflement) they struggle to understand it, to encapsulate the impetus behind it in a succinctly-worded statement.  But President Obama came closest to accurately describing the sentiments behind the "Occupy Wall Street" phenomenon.  He said yesterday that he thought the protests express "the frustration of the American people."

That's right, Mr. President.  Frustration.  Anger.  Bitterness and outrage.

And unlike the artificial Tea Party movement, our movement does not have a clearly articulated message, formulated by Dick Armey and the Koch Brothers and Roger Ailes.  There are so many things that we are angry about. Where could we possibly begin?

President Obama must understand that we are angry and that he needs to figure out what he's going to do about it.  I wish him luck.  But he's in a deep hole.

The worst of it all is this: the folks marching in the streets today were behind President Obama all the way just two short years ago.  We gave him as much of a mandate as anyone could expect in this divided, unhappy era. We dared to believe that he would lead us in the fight against the neo-feudalists.

Instead, he accommodated them.

Snot-nosed Eric Cantor, spacey Rand Paul, and other corporate shills call our movement a "mob."  Fine with me.  We're the mob from Little Beirut, then. 

Keep rockin', Portland.