Beck: Obama’s Nightmare

Barack Obama did not “adopt” his African first name “to identify with America.” He “may” have chosen it to identify with the heritage of his Kenyan father, “who is a radical.”

Influenced by “radical black nationalism” and “Marxist black liberation theology,” Obama sees his health care reform as the beginning of “reparations” for slavery in the United States.

It’s understood, of course, that this man “is a racist,” with “a deep-seated hatred for white people.”

These rants are just a sample of Glenn Beck’s pronouncements on his radio show or on Fox News Channel since Obama moved into the White House.

However, they are enough to help us understand just how incongruous it was that this conservative talk radio host organized last Saturday’s rally, which took place in the exact spot where Martin Luther King made his most famous speech, commemorated on its 47th anniversary (“divine coincidence,” according to Beck).

Beck’s stated objective was not only to “restore the honor” of the United States, but also to “reclaim” the civil rights movement, whose ideals were supposedly perverted by the assassinated preacher’s followers and imitators, including President Obama.

According to NBC, about 300,000 persons answered Beck’s call. The crowd, almost entirely white, was imposing, outnumbering the 250,000 persons, three quarters of whom were black, who originally gathered in front of the Lincoln Memorial when Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech.

All of this furnishes plenty of material for Obama’s nightmares.

A non-political demonstration?

Beck’s rally was purported to be resolutely non-political. In his speech, the host, a former alcoholic who says he found the straight and narrow path thanks to Mormonism, avoided partisan comments, instead calling his compatriots to a religious renewal.

“We must eradicate the poison of hatred that is in us, regardless of the slander or lies which come our way. We must turn to God and to love. We must defend those with whom we disagree,” Beck said, seeming to forget his own inflammatory radio and television persona.

Nevertheless, the political aspects of the event did not escape notice. Even though they left their signs at home (at the organizers’ request), most of the demonstrators claimed to belong to the Tea Party, the anti-Washington protest movement that Beck and Fox News have been promoting since the early weeks of the Obama administration.

Sarah Palin, the heroine of the movement, was the keynote speaker after Beck. The former vice-presidential candidate could not resist a veiled criticism of Barack Obama, referring to his promise to “fundamentally transform” the United States.

“We must not fundamentally transform America as some would want — we must restore America and restore her honor,” she declared, urging her audience to reconnect with the principles and values of the Founding Fathers, one of the Tea Party’s favorite themes.

Against social justice

Two months before the midterm elections, Beck’s rally supplied another example of the Right’s ability to swing into action. Demoralized less than two years ago, conservatives have regained strength by opposing Obama’s policies. They accuse Obama of wanting to make the United States a socialist country. In a difficult economy, voters could deliver a major defeat to the president’s Democratic allies in Congress on November 2.

However, Obama’s nightmares are probably not just about politics. Like his fellow citizens, the president saw a man on Saturday in a moment of triumph. Beck hopes to “reclaim” the civil rights movement, while denouncing the very notion of “social justice” which inspired its greatest leader, Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Social justice and economic justice were the rallying cries of both the Communist front and the Fascist front: This is not an American idea,” Beck declared in March, during one of his radio broadcasts.

And this man attracted tens or even hundreds of thousands of people to Washington? Let’s just say that Barack Obama should not be the only one having bad dreams.