Observers: Occupy protests have changed the debate

Associated Press

NEW YORK

Everywhere, it seems, people want to weigh in about the Occupy Wall Street protests around the country, from CEOs and politicians to your next-door neighbor. So far, the talk has translated into little action.

Two months into the movement, with police dismantling the encampments one by one, city by city, few politicians or policymakers have publicly taken up the protesters’ cause and done anything to address corporate excesses and economic inequality.

But some political observers say the demonstrators have changed the conversation in the U.S., and that is a big first step.

“They’ve shifted the center of gravity of the debate so that the whole question of wealth and privilege is now being discussed,” said William Galston, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, the Washington political think tank. “In a democracy, what people are talking about matters.”

Examples of measurable Occupy-inspired change in the political sphere are hard to come by.

In Rhode Island, Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse noted that Occupy activists encouraged customers to fight back recently against fees imposed by major banks — a fight that ended with Bank of America and its competitors backing down. Whitehouse is trying to channel the anger that has bubbled up in the Occupy movement against big banks as he seeks support for a bill to crack down on credit-card interest rates.

Union leaders say the Occupy movement also has brought a spark of optimism and energy to organized labor.