Occupy the 2012 election

Robert McCartney’s commentary on D.C.’s Occupiers — and the diversity of the movement and its leadership — accurately captured much of the current situation [“Friction creates static in D.C. Occupiers’ message,” Metro, Dec. 11]. There is, however, an important caveat.

No one need worry that the labor movement will co-opt them into “traditional electoral politics” or that they’ll become “drones for Obama.” However, if the Occupy movement misses an opportunity to affect the 2012 elections, it will have made a strategic mistake. The important question is how to maximize that impact; another is which candidates to support. The challenge with politics is that it forces one to make choices, and sometimes one choice is only a little better than the other.

Here’s to the success that Occupy has already had (pushing the Tea Party and its reactionary agenda to the sidelines). And here’s to its future, which is as yet unwritten.

Michael J. Wilson, Washington

The writer is national director of Americans for Democratic Action.