The pundit class has largely ignored, dismissed or mocked the Occupy Wall Street protest. We too find it hard to get worked up over a series of small demonstrations in a handful of cities involving mostly disaffected people who have trouble expressing what it is they’re against. But isn’t that how the “tea party” started out?

The political left has been searching for the last couple of years to find an answer to the tea party. Some hoped last year’s rally in Washington led by TV comedians Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, a response to right-wing rallies attended by such conservative media celebrities as Glenn Beck, would spark a national movement. That didn’t happen. Now they’re pinning their hopes on Occupy Wall Street, which in many ways is a mirror image of the tea party.

Both groups are motivated by frustration over the rotten economy and are vague about causes and solutions. If their positions could be summed up in a one-line manifesto, it might be: The tea party, dominated by elderly conservatives, blames government overspending and overreach for our economic problems and wants to cut federal spending, while Occupy Wall Street, dominated by young liberals, blames corporate greed and would therefore like to tax the rich and decrease corporate political power.

It is, of course, far too early to suggest that Occupy Wall Street represents a resurgence of the left. But we do seem to recall that in its initial days the tea party was similarly dismissed by pundits, especially those on the left. What matters isn’t the size of the protest or the attire of the demonstrators; it’s whether the relatively tiny number of people who show up and march can inspire and energize other like-minded people enough to get them to the polls.

By that measure, the tea party has been a phenomenal success. Republican voters turned out in big numbers in the 2010 elections while the Democratic vote was depressed, leading to the GOP takeover of the House of Representatives. A Gallup poll last week found Democratic enthusiasm for voting in 2012 is at its lowest level in a decade, trailing Republicans’ net enthusiasm by 27 percent.

No one can say whether Occupy Wall Street will change that. But it would be a mistake to write off the movement before it gets started.