Why Occupy Wall Street Won't Help Dems

With Occupy Wall Street growing and expanding throughout the country, Democrats are hoping the left-wing movement will reward their party with the same electoral benefits that the Tea Party has given the GOP. But Salon's Michael Lind says Democratic partisans shouldn't hold their breath. There are several reasons the party won't reap the rewards of the movement's populist energy. For one thing, Democrats increasingly rely on campaign donations from Wall Street, and since the party lost the white working class to Republicans decades ago, it has been forced to start recruiting voters among the professional elite (like wealthy bankers). But maybe most important is the fact that today's "progressive intelligentsia" tends to look down its noses at much of the suburban middle-class lifestyle (from fast food to SUVs). After all, it's tough to benefit from a real populist movement when your party's elite holds contempt for so many people.