Uncouth Barbarians Harass John Boehner at a Golf Course
The progressive activist group Courage Campaign snuck into a private golf club in California yesterday morning to harass John Boehner, in a little move they called "Occupy Golf Course." Their goal was to urge Boehner to pass President Obama's jobs bill, while using all of the hot anti-1% lingo you hear everywhere nowadays.
Occupy Golf Course's brief visit does not appear to have swayed the House Speaker into moving a piece of legislation that he and his political party hate. But were the two sides at least able to engage in a rigorous policy discussion? From the Daily Pilot:
Under the guise of having a tee time Monday morning, [Courage Campaign founder Rick] Jacobs was able to get into the golf clubhouse and speak with the Ohio representative and Republican leader.
He said he tapped the speaker on the shoulder. Boehner then turned and smiled until Jacobs said he was actually with the Courage Campaign, at which time Boehner turned and walked away.
Well, uhh... a proud, productive moment in our democracy's history, to be sure. But there was one slightly interesting aspect to this thing: We're seeing an organized progressive group trying to leverage the slogans and spirit of Occupy Wall Street to help pass the Democratic party's top legislative priority at the moment. Last we checked, the bulk of Occupy Wall Street protesters, despite receiving some semi-friendly nods from Democratic leaders, still had little interest in transforming their movement into the organizing wing of the Democratic party. There's some paranoia about outside progressive groups, namely MoveOn, trying to sneak in and co-opt the movement into precisely that. And on the other side of things, you have Wall Street lobbyists starting to threaten the Democratic politicians who've spoken out in favor of the protests. It's hard to see how this tension gets resolved. Maybe with a mixer in the Congressional gymnasium, or over a round of golf with the President.