All three men, the very essence of the ruling political elite, are both embracing the basic thrust of the Occupy Wall Street movement, and, in their way, trying to channel it. They are not dismissing the crowds as a bunch of trust fund hippies and anarchists, or know-nothings deserving of disdain, as CNN’s Erin Burnett and several Fox News talking heads have done. They are saying this is a legitimate thing. That it makes sense. That it is part of what this country is right now…

At the same time, if the Occupy movement directs its ire away from the bankers, corporations and wealthy people that seem now to be their main target, the Democratic party could be hurt. In the end, the Tea Party movement ended up functioning very much as a rebellion within the Republican Party. Attempts to start a third party, or to run third-party candidates outside the GOP nomination process, never really got off the ground. And though there was much criticism of Republicans at Tea Party rallies, the desire to unseat Democrats always loomed as a larger, more important goal. There is no certainty that the Occupy movement, which seems to have a much younger demographic, will break the same way.

But if anything, the organizers of the Occupy movement should be heartened by the latest outpouring of sympathy from establishment figures. The protesters, who can still be counted by the hundreds in most gatherings, have already shifted the national conversation. We are no longer talking about government spending and deficits. The focus is on income inequality and unpunished culpability of corporate elite for the last decade of dysfunction.