I think the “Occupy” movement has been extraordinarily successful. They have caused the polity to focus on their issues. In fact, just playing coy about their issues is extraordinarily successful, and keeps others trying to guess what they are actually on about. This keeps them in the news. This makes their issues that politicians must at least be aware of, no matter how stupid they think the issues are, nor how much they disagree with the occupy movement.
Every action helps. Right now several cities are kicking the occupy people out. Soon, my city will do the same. All this does is bring them more attention, and it doesn’t matter if there is negative attention about how smelly or dirty they are, because the underlying issues are still there, and they are still calling attention to them.
The occupy movement serves as a vanguard following that old saw, “there is no such thing as bad publicity.” If they can keep these issues in the public eye, then politicians have to be aware of them. They can’t ignore the issues. The business of focusing on business to the exclusion of the “99%” can not go on as usual. They will have to at least pretend they are concerned about the 99%, even if they don’t really give a shit (and it seems like pro-business conservatives can not imagine doing anything for ordinary people—only business drives the economy and business can do no wrong).
So yes, the Occupy movement is a big win and will continue to be so as long as the protesters hang out, wherever they hang out. The police pushing them away are doing them a big favor. Which, in cities like NY, Oakland, and others, is probably in the best interest of the government, since they have so many poor and would love to have more money from Washington. I doubt the cops would see themselves as helping the protesters, nor would they see themselves as being advantaged by the protests, but it could well turn out that way.