Wasting Away Again in an Obamaville

Last week, Jim Geraghty of NRO noted that “Occupy Wall Street [is] Wrecking Obama’s Needed ‘Recovery’ Narrative:”

President Obama already knows he’s almost certainly going to be in a tough spot on the “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?” question. But even worse for him, he now can’t argue that his policies just need a bit more time, and that 2013 will see the significant recovery Americans have been waiting for. The one indisputable message of the OWS/We Are the 99 Percent crowd is that economic opportunities are few and far between and that the basic goals of modern American life — getting a good education, finding a job, providing for one’s family, buying a house, being able to afford insurance and take care of one’s health — seem increasingly difficult or even impossible. Even Americans who have education, jobs, houses, and health insurance see the daily coverage of the protests and are reminded of their own economic anxieties.

That’s about as far from a “stay the course” message as you can imagine, and toxic for any cry of “four more years.”

Today, James Taranto notes that if you’re an indigent staggering over to Zuccotti Park to sleep it off, it’s “No Soup for You! Obamaville debunks another Obama idea:”

The New York Post has another hilarious dispatch from the People’s Republic of Obamaville (or, as it was known before the revolution, Zuccotti Park). It seems “the Occupy Wall Street volunteer kitchen staff launched a ‘counter’ revolution yesterday–because they’re angry about working 18-hour days to provide food for ‘professional homeless’ people and ex-cons masquerading as protesters.”

For three days beginning tomorrow, the cooks will serve only brown rice and other spartan grub instead of the usual menu of organic chicken and vegetables, spaghetti bolognese, and roasted beet and sheep’s-milk-cheese salad.

They will also provide directions to local soup kitchens for the vagrants, criminals and other freeloaders who have been descending on Zuccotti Park in increasing numbers every day.

To show they mean business, the kitchen staff refused to serve any food for two hours yesterday in order to meet with organizers to air their grievances, sources said.

It reminds one of Seinfeld’s Soup Nazi: “No soup for you!” But it’s also reminiscent of President Obama’s comments that we noted yesterday: “The one thing that we absolutely know for sure is that if we don’t work even harder than we did in 2008, then we’re going to have a government that tells the American people, ‘you are on your own. If you get sick, you’re on your own. If you can’t afford college, you’re on your own. If you don’t like that some corporation is polluting your air or the air that your child breathes, then you’re on your own.’ That’s not the America I believe in. It’s not the America you believe in.”

Yet to judge by their actions, the denizens of Obamaville have come to believe in it very quickly. They selfishly feast on spaghetti bolognese and sheep’s milk, but when the truly needy show up, the cupboard is bare. “No soup for you! You’re on your own, freeloader.” Apparently it’s the bottom 1% against whom they’re waging class war.

Of course we are being half-facetious here. In truth, the Obamavillians are learning why Obama is wrong–why socialism doesn’t work. A society that makes a virtue of dependency ultimately encourages freeloading and grifting. The instinct to prevent it is a healthy one. A lot has been written about the similarities and differences between Obamaville and the Tea Party, and here is one: Whereas the latter arose out of the instinct to reward self-reliance and discourage dependency, the former is having it awakened by an encounter with the real world.

Will Obama ever have such an encounter with the real world? Probably not until he’s been out of office for at least 10 years. There were no reports that any homeless people or ex-cons showed up asking for dinner at the million-dollar fund-raiser where he made the sanctimonious remarks quoted above. If they had, the Secret Service would have told them they were on their own.

Another Wall Street Journal columnist describes it as a case of “Remedial Economics — The ‘Occupy’ folks learn the limits of wealth redistribution.”Or to put it another way, professional homeless people are “unexpectedly” sick of professional homeless people. But then, “Everyday is Learning Day for OWS.”

More blue on blue fun: At the Blaze, “NYPD Police Union Warns Protesters: We’ll Sue You if You Injure Officers” SEIU could not be reached for comment. And Verum Serum spots Keith Olbermann hopping mad at fellow far left Democrat, Mayor Jean Quan.

Finally, some related videos:

Nice retro look at the Rise of the Obamavilles: