Proving yet again that a certain famous phrase isn't necessarily true, Glenn Beck let his buffoonery shine as only he can. On his 2/4/10 radio program, Beck gave his theory (which you can hear in the clip below) as to why President Obama decided to start going by Barack instead of Barry during his collegiate years.First, the suggestion that one can't have a name such as Barack and still identify themselves as American completely misses a key aspect which makes this country great: the U.S. is inclusive and one doesn't need to have an Anglicized name to be an American. I wonder what fellow Fox employees Bill O'Reilly, Greta Van Susteren, and Alisyn Camerota think of Beck's assessment. I guess Beck would be happier if President Obama was named Jack Armstrong.
Beck also foolishly plays a portion of the audio version of Obama's bestselling memoir Dreams From My Father to suggest that when Obama started going by the name Barack, he began to seek out fellow college students who were radicals. Although Obama doesn't really address the reasons why he chose to go by Barack instead of Barry in Dreams From My Father, he did offer the following explanation in a 2008 Newsweek story:
"It was not some assertion of my African roots … not a racial assertion. It was much more of an assertion that I was coming of age. An assertion of being comfortable with the fact that I was different and that I didn't need to try to fit in in a certain way."
A real bright 3rd grader could have looked this explanation up, but not Glenn Beck.
Note: Although Barack is his birth name, I'm going to let Beck's "he changed his name from Barry to Barack" business slide because that could just be a question of semantics.
When referring to Glenn Beck, Keith Olbermann often uses the name Lonesome Rhodes. I wonder if there is a Marcia Jeffries in Beck's life with the ability to expose him for all the world to see. Sadly, even if it's proven that Beck is the maniacal fraud that many think he is, there would probably still be people in his audience who will refuse to believe it.
2 comments:
As usual I preface my comments with a disclaimer that I lean to the right on some issues. That being said, I am embarrased (yet again) by another right-wing idiot with a microphone. They are giving folks like myself a bad name. I am all for free speech but I think you should have to pass some sort of test before they give someone access to speak to millions of people. I suppose the best way to send him a message is to treat him like a crackhead who's yelling nonsense at people on the street. Ignore him and maybe that he'll go away.
Dave: When I read comments such as yours, it gives me hope. It kills me when people will blindly follow someone based on political beliefs. Although I am a liberal, I will call out left-leaning pundits/politicians when I disagree with them. Coincidentally, your statement regarding pundits passing a test before having access to millions of people is similar to what the host of The Young Turks said about Beck:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkwIuuEk1A8
Glenn Beck represents a Catch-22 for me. Because I think he says much of what he does for attention/ratings, I would love to ignore him. On the other hand, I feel it's important to let it be known when he spouts off nonsense.
I compare Glenn Beck's popularity to Jerry Springer's in the early 90s. Jerry was pulling massive ratings with the onstage fights during his show. However, the novelty wore off and his ratings started to drop. I have a feeling that many viewers will get tired of Beck's "Howard Beale" persona and move on to something else.
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