No response?
Analysis from NPR
- Obama's And Daniels' Speeches Follow Classic Party Lines--NPR
'There were appeals to what unites Americans, and even to what may unite the warring parties in Washington. But the spirit and bite of the address were in the throwing down of the gauntlet.'
Where Were the "%99"
As is required by the Constitution, the President gave his State of The Union Address. Indiana's Governor, another along the lines of the Governors of Wisconsin and Ohio gave the Republican response. One-time GOP front-runner Herman Cain contributed a "Tea Party" response as well.
But to me, there was a missing response. Where was a response from The %99? From what I read, I saw themes in the address that seem to say that mainstream Democrats have realized that many of the issues close to the "%99" are issues that resonate with the American people who have not let the media voices of the "%1"; Beck, Limbaugh, etc, turn them against their economic interests.
One reason for this lack of a response may have to do with the "%99" themselves. Who insist that, perhaps rightly so, the system is broken. But how do you propose to fix a broken system from the outside? At some point, the "%99" need to start working more with sympathetic elements of the Democratic Party. The Republican's, in my opinion, have completely swallowed the 'tea' that the "%1" provides, with generous campaign contributions on the side.
This brings up a second point. The "%99" have been around since October 2011, if not before. By now there should be a 'face'; the Civil Rights movement had Martin Luther King, South Africa had Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu, the opposition to the 'War on Terror' had Cindy Sheehan. The 'Tea Party' has several, why can't the "%99"?
The other part of this point, needing a voice in Washington, DC, isn't so far-fetched. Bernie Saunders, the Independent from Vermont, seems to speak to the concerns of the "%99". Dennis Kucinich, who may become an intentional or unintentional symbol of the legal gerrymandering that is redistricting, is another unofficial ally of the "%99".
Perhaps after the 2012 Elections, Kucinich could be the face of the "%99", a movement that may find itself having to go from "Occupation" to resistance.