Obama Seeks to Supress Dissent, Consolidate Cult

I spoke of the Obama presidential cult last night, and I specifically questioned whether Obama himself hasn't consciously built it himself. Well in thinking about that question, keep in mind that the president has admonished his critics on the right for not getting on board The One's propaganda express.

Brian Maloney has more:

To the 58 million American voters who've refused to join Barack Obama's creepy cult, these are difficult times. With the mainstream media eagerly awaiting their Dear Leader's orders, independent-minded citizens are left with few places to turn as they race to save the country they love.

Adding to the discomfort is the way some GOP moderates have seemingly jumped on board Obama's ship, oblivious to the likelihood that it will soon sink as his political bubble bursts, dot.com-style.

One non-believing medium their Messiah has yet to dismantle is talk radio, where Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity have been pounding away at Obama's hollow rhetoric and empty promises. During the course of the campaign, the King Of All Egos went after the FOX News Channel host by name, but now he's aiming squarely at his most outspoken foe: El Rushbo himself.

Maloney cites the New York Post's report on this, then continues:

Beyond the absurdity of a Democrat barking orders at his political opposition, he's especially foolish to air his fear of Limbaugh and talk radio in a public setting. Now, what was long suspected by conservatives has been verified by the man himself.

The timing was no coincidence: after a rocky first week in office, the Obamists are also faced with a resurgent Fox News Channel, where ratings have been climbing since the moment he took office.

In particular, Hannity's Limbaugh interview, which took place in the latter's Florida studios, scored fantastic audience figures for the former's network. In overall viewers, Thursday's Hannity nearly trebled his MSNBC competition and almost doubled CNN's Larry King.And after a wildly successful fall ratings survey, talk radio is looking forward to record numbers with the installation of the Obamists.

One of the central characteristics of political authoritarianism is systematic state suppression of dissenting opinion. That Obama has taken such a direct swipe at his critics provides more information and support for the hypothesis of a self-promoted personality cult in the office of the presidency.

By the way, Fox News was covered in a piece last week at the New York Times which signaled the growth of the networks rebirth in political opposition: "Fox News Primes Itself for a Shift."