Jon Stewart and Glenn Beck: Beside the point

Comedy Central's "Rally For Sanity and/or Fear", billed as a (wink, nudge) non-partisan event, was obviously anything but. And as the putative response to Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally, that's perfectly OK since I don't think many attendees at Beck's rally will be pulling the "D" lever on Tuesday even though that, too, was billed as non-partisan.

I can't comment much on the rally since I didn't attend nor did I watch any of it on TV, but I did catch Jon Stewart's closing remarks here. If you didn't see it, it's worth following the link and watching all 13 minutes because Stewart's closing is actually pretty good. Mediaite's Frances Martel correctly points out:

Those who paid attention to Glenn Beck’s speech at “Restoring Honor” will be hard-pressed to find much of a difference at the core of both their speeches, that core being that Americans are truly good and care for one another, and that the only way to get through these difficult times is working together.

But neither Beck nor Stewart put their fingers on the real problem, which is not Stewart or Beck. The real problem is a ruling party with leaders who actively and routinely attack and disparage roughly half of all Americans. President Obama himself, when he's not telling half of all Americans they're fearful and ignorant, says they need to sit in back because they can't drive. More recently he's referred to that same 50% as "enemies".

Mr. President, dude (hey, if Jon Stewart can call him dude, so can I)...smearing half your constituents is not a good way to unite the country. And neither is ramrodding an agenda opposed by roughly 60% of Americans.