NEW YORK (RNS) The collapse of high-level budget talks in Washington is no surprise.

Neither are the odious comments by presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich, who dismissed Occupy Wall Streeters as ingrates who should “get a job after they take a bath.” (That was an especially odd comment from someone who has spent his adult life living large at the public trough.)

Practitioners in the politics of blame see no gain in resolving problems or comprehending the facts and nuances of popular movements. In our toxic politics, apportioning blame is far more useful than actually accomplishing anything.

Never mind the impact of these failures in leadership. These days, if you can get the gullible shouting for revenge, you have done a good day’s work.

The demagogue act is wearing thin, however. Willful blindness eventually is revealed, not as wisdom, but as a foolish decision to ignore reality.

Occupiers don’t speak for the entire 99 percent, of course. Many of those 99 percent think the Occupiers are nuts. But I think skeptics would be surprised by how much support has developed for the Occupy movement.

A typical Occupy gathering will include a cross section of America: people with jobs who think today’s income inequality is wrong; people without jobs who are eager to work; people of faith who find the Occupy movement far more hopeful and godly than standard religious fare; longtime activists and first-time activists; dreamers who imagine a better America; and, no doubt, an assortment of cranks, layabouts and unwashed.

For every one of the several thousand who now gather downtown, there are many more who are providing support, cooking food, arranging bed space, and talking about the movement. Clergy from around New York are asking how they can help.

Gingrich got a large cheer for his haughty dismissal of a movement whose aims he doesn’t support. But that isn’t leadership. True leaders see broadly, peer deeply, hear views other than their own, and imagine motivations beyond a lazy dim assessment.

In a similar vein, budget negotiators managed to avoid offending the wealthy whose largesse is sought by both parties. No one will accuse them of yielding to the enemy. Preserving one’s campaign coffers, however, isn’t a strategy for good government.

True leaders compromise — yes, the C word — and seek common ground, and they recognize that for a complex and deeply divided society to endure, leaders must look beyond narrow self-interest.

We don’t seem to have such leaders. To me, that is a tragic message of the present moment. Not that we have pressing problems, or that a nation of 313 million has a rainbow of opinions on those problems, or that our divisions have become toxic. The tragic message is that We the People are on our own. Officeholders aren’t willing to provide leadership. The best they can do is play to our fears and loathing.

I think this vacuum of leadership explains why the Occupy movement has captured the popular imagination. Here, at least, are people who have done their homework and taken action to seek a better course. The stories that form the heart of the Occupy movement are “everyman” stories, not those of drug-addled slackers.

The Occupy movement is a vote of No on today’s politicians and a vote of Yes on the values that made America great.

(Tom Ehrich is a writer, church consultant and Episcopal priest based in New York. He is the author of “Just Wondering, Jesus” and founder of the Church Wellness Project. His website is http://www.morningwalkmedia.com. Follow Tom on Twitter (at)tomehrich.)