Will the Religious Right Spoil the Inaugural Party?

A BUZZFLASH GUEST COMMENTARY

By Bill Berkowitz

A number of Religious Right groups, including Our Country Deserves Better PAC, preparing to take on the Obama Administration
 
The California-based PAC that failed to derail the presidential candidacy of Obama, intends to serve as ‘the loyal opposition’
 
In politics, commerce, and fundraising, timing is essential. The upcoming inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama is providing all sorts of opportunities for conservative organizations to market their messages and peddle some goods at the same time.
 
On January 8, the Christian Defense Coalition (CDC), an organization headed by Reverend Patrick J. Mahoney, announced that they had received permission to display what it calls a pro life vigil -- 25 large signs showing the development of life from conception to birth -- along the parade route during the Presidential Inauguration. Claiming that President-elect Obama is on the "wrong side of history and human rights by embracing the most radical abortion policies of any President in American history," Mahoney says that "While millions will be celebrating along the Inaugural Parade route, we will be speaking ‘truth to power’ and calling justice and equality for all Americans."
 
Repent America, another Christian conservative group, is planning “a massive evangelism effort in Washington, DC. [where] church groups and individuals [will] … hand out tracts and engage in one-on-one witnessing efforts during” Inauguration Day activities, according to a report by OneNewsNow, the America Family Association-sponsored news service. "We know ... president-elect Barack Obama [to be] a very aggressive, pro-abortion, pro-homosexual political figure -- and now he's going to be our president," Michael Marcavage, president of Repent America, told OneNewsNow. "So it's only expected that these particular things are going to be pushed in our nation even more."
  
Over at the PatriotShop.US, a division of the Tennessee-based online publication, The Patriot Post, commerce is the main word during the lead-up to Obama’s Inauguration. According to its website, you can “celebrate the Obamanation Inauguration” with a host of products including “Bitterly Clinging to Guns and Religion” posters, tee shirts and bumper stickers; an “O-Bummer” sticker; a Che Obama tee shirt and bumper sticker; “Politically Incorrect Guides” to American History, Capitalism, Global Warming, Islam, the Middle East, the Constitution, Hunting; and other assorted sundries from mugs to coin holders to even a Holy Cross.  
 
According to its website, The Patriot Post is “America's most widely read Internet-based publication … [and] is a highly acclaimed journal advocating individual liberty, the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and the promotion of free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values.” The online publication, headed by Mark Alexander aims to be “a hard-hitting rebuttal to contemporary political, social and mainstream media protagonists on the Left, … written for those who seek a brief, informative and entertaining analysis of the week's most significant news, policy and opinion.”
 
While the Christian Defense Committee is holding its vigil, Repent America is passing out flyers and looking for converts, and The Patriot Post is flogging its merchandise, another group, Our Country Deserves Better PAC, is seeking cash.   
 
Having failed to defeat Obama, despite spending thousands of dollars on anti-Obama television advertisements in several swing states, and launching its “Stop Obama Tour,” which drew few anti-Obama enthusiasts as it lumbered around the country, the California-based Our Country Deserves Better PAC is asking for financial support for a long term campaign against Obama. In a new ad run by HumanEvents.com, Our Country is looking to “serve as one of the leading conservative organizations that will help prepare for a conservative resurgence in 2009 and 2010.”
 
As Inauguration Day approaches, Our Country is warning conservatives that “Obama is perhaps the most liberal person ever to be elected to serve as Commander in Chief of these United States of America, and it is now the responsibility for conservatives to serve as the ‘loyal opposition’ to Obama's liberal policies - just as MoveOn.org, Code Pink and all the liberal organizations stood up to the Bush Administration and Republicans in Congress.”
 
Our Country’s HumanEvents.com ad is more like Election 2008 Redux: The two videos it “showcase(s)” have been used before: one features Howard Kaloogian, the chairman of the PAC who served as Assistant Republican Leader in the California State Assembly during his six-year term in office and who, in 2003, helped lead the drive to recall California Governor Gray Davis, warning Americans about the impact on the country Obama will have if he is elected (“Obama’s Liberal Policies are Wrong”);  the other is a gushing tribute to Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (“Sarah’s a Fighter”).
 
It is imperative that we both champion our conservative values and articulate to the American people why these policies are not only right and moral, but also best for America -- and that we stand up for and celebrate the best conservative leaders who champion these ideals.
 
That is what the Our Country Deserves Better PAC has done to date, and that is what we will continue to do with your financial support.
 
It's time for conservatives to fight back!!  It's time for us to stop licking our wounds and to fight for our conservative beliefs and the future of America.
 
At Our Country’s website, the featured story is headlined “Rahm Emanuel Must Resign.” a campaign that asks supporters to “Sign the petition demanding that Obama’s Chief of Staff, Rahm Emmanuel, resign for his inappropriate conduct in the Obama Senate Seat corruption scandal.”
 
Our Country’s fundraising efforts is being organized by Complete Campaigns.com, which, according to its website, “provides outstanding web-based services to help campaigns effectively track supporters, voters, fundraising, and volunteers.”

A BUZZFLASH GUEST COMMENTARY