Central Mass Tea Partiers Ready to Oust Obama

Thursday, June 14, 2012

John O'Mara makes a point as he addresses a local Tea Party group Wednesday

They were small in number and all with a singular focus – to guarantee President Barack Obama leaves Washington, D.C. as a one-term president. With John O’Mara, one of the founders of the Oust Obama Coalition (OOC), leading the way with an impassioned speech, Tea Party members from four Central Mass towns “woke up” and vowed to make a major change in November.

Wide Awake

“We are awake now,” said O’Mara, a Northborough resident. “Two years ago we were asleep. This fellow is out to transform this country in a way that is disastrous.”

O’Mara was speaking at the Paxton Senior Center Wednesday night as a guest of the Leicester-Paxton-Rutland-Holden Tea Party (LPRH). In his speech, O'Mara reached out to more than Tea Party loyalists. Dick Hutchings of Hubbardston, who said he is not a Tea Party member, was there to “see what they’re doing.”

Hutchings is an unenrolled voter, but said he will not be voting for Obama.

“Oh no,” he said. “I’m conservative. I think it is great what this group is doing.”

Michael Wade of East Brookfield, a radio talk show host on WCRN 830AM, latched onto O’Mara’s theme of not being aware of what has been going on.

“We’ve been sleeping at the wheel a long time,” Wade said. “I was telling my children the other day we’re moving toward socialism. I probably won’t see it in my lifetime, but you will. Stand up to it.”

Striking a Chord

Tea Party members around the country, often derided as “tea baggers,” have struck a chord among many Americans. Some of them, radical in their beliefs, have drawn scorn from liberals and other critics. They have not, however, faded away. In Paxton, their voices were as loud and as passionate as ever.

“I have to say thanks to Obama,” one woman said in a raised voice, pumping her fist. “Thanks to him, we got the Tea Party.”

Jim McGrath, co-chair of LPRH, stressed that not everyone is committed to the same candidate, saying: “We don’t support anybody. We support whoever we want. You might have some people that loathe (Mitt) Romney, but when you look at the alternative, what’s the other option?”

One Thing in Common

The common bond that binds group members is their fervent belief that Obama is the wrong person to lead America. Quite the contrary, they say: Obama wants to take the country down the wrong path. Some of them expressed it in different ways, like Wade, who spoke out as O’Mara spoke and said, “On Nov. 7, if (Obama) wins again, you need to take a gun and blow your brains out. I really believe he wants to become a dictator or king.”

The OOC may not collectively ascribe to Wade’s assumption, but most are as passionate in their opposition to the president. In fact Paxton’s John Pennace credited Obama with doing something he never thought possible.

“He made me miss that great intellect, George Bush,” Pennace said. “I never, ever thought I’d say that, ever. But this guy is an idiot. He’s eloquent, but what he says is idiotic.”

A Concerted Effort

Whether they fear a monarchy or think he’s an “idiot,” LPRH Tea Party members are working with other organizations, like American Majority, to score a win for the Republican nominee in November. O’Mara wanted to make sure none of them rests on their laurels. The fight, he said, has just begun.

“This is not the time to spend on things that are not going to get this guy out of office,” O’Mara said, singling out local and state elections as a distraction to the ultimate goal. “We’re so ingrained in our local and state elections. All of it, all of this is going to be insignificant if this guy gets in again. We are dedicated to defeating Obama and we are mobilizing an army to win the swing states in November and make sure he loses.”

The OOC can be found on Facebook, where it enjoys the modest support of a little more than 50 “likes.” The page is eye-catching for its banner of a flag with an image of rattle snake and the slogan: “Don’t tread on me.”

The group’s next meeting is July 18 in Paxton. After that, meetings will be held the first of every month. Wade’s show airs every Saturday, from 7-9 a.m.

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