What were Occupy's original goals? Here's a stroll down memory lane:

On September 17, we want to see 20,000 people flood into lower Manhattan, set up tents, kitchens, peaceful barricades and occupy Wall Street for a few months. Once there, we shall incessantly repeat one simple demand in a plurality of voices.

Tahrir succeeded in large part because the people of Egypt made a straightforward ultimatum – that Mubarak must go – over and over again until they won. Following this model, what is our equally uncomplicated demand?

The most exciting candidate that we've heard so far is one that gets at the core of why the American political establishment is currently unworthy of being called a democracy: we demand that Barack Obama ordain a Presidential Commission tasked with ending the influence money has over our representatives in Washington.

That's right: AdBusters wanted a "Presidential Commission." Now ask yourself, if the movement had coalesced around that demand, do you think we could have gotten it? Maybe, but do you seriously believe it would have changed anything? And more importantly, do you believe we would have seen thousands of Occupies spring up spontaneously around the world inspired by our unwavering demand for a presidential commission? I don't think so.

Look at it this way. For an idea like "occupy" to go viral, it needs to be adaptable enough to survive in a lot of different environments. Narrow demands like "reinstate Glass-Steagall" or "appoint a presidential commission" can't adapt to be relevant everyday people's lives, especially non-Americans (who, it should go without saying, make up the vast preponderance of the global 99%). They're non-starters.

Now having said all that, I do believe demands can be powerful, but they need to be radical, inspiring, and tangibly benefit regular people. The eight-hour work day is a good example of this kind of demand, and recent calls for a universal living wage could be similarly powerful if Occupy unifies behind them.