Masses flock to D.C. to vent on Obama, country's course

WASHINGTON — Tens of thousands of protesters filled the west lawn of the Capitol and spilled onto the National Mall on Saturday in the largest rally against President Obama since he took office, a culmination of a summerlong season of protests that began with opposition to a health-care overhaul and grew into a broader dissatisfaction with government.

Demonstrators came from across the country, waving U.S. flags and handwritten signs explaining the root of their frustrations. Their anger stretched well beyond the health-care legislation moving through Congress, with shouts of support for gun rights, lower taxes and a smaller government.

As they sang verse after verse of patriotic hymns such as "God Bless America," sharp words of profane and political criticism were aimed at Obama and Congress.

Dick Armey, a former House Republican leader whose group, FreedomWorks, helped organized the protest, stood before the crowd and led the rallying cries in nearly the same spot where Obama took his oath of office eight months ago.

"He pledged a commitment of fidelity to the United States Constitution," Armey said, suggesting Obama was in violation of what the Founding Fathers intended the size and scope of the government to be.

"Liar! Liar! Liar! Liar!" the crowd shouted back, echoing the accusation Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., hurled at the president Wednesday during his address to Congress.

The demonstrators numbered well into the tens of thousands, though police declined to provide an estimate of the crowd size. Many participants came on their own and were not part of an organization or group.

The magnitude of the rally took authorities by surprise, with throngs of people streaming from the White House to Capitol Hill for more than three hours.

In addition to FreedomWorks, the groups Tea Party Patriots and ResistNet helped sponsor the rally.

Event rowdy at times

The atmosphere, at times, was rowdy and carnival-like, with signs and images casting the president in a demeaning light. One sign called him the "parasite-in-chief." Several people held up preprinted signs saying, "Bury Obama Care with Kennedy," a reference to the late Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, whose body passed the Capitol two weeks earlier to be memorialized.

Race became an issue when a black Republican leader denounced African-American politicians who she said had an "affinity" for socialism.

"I'm outraged prominent black politicians use the race card" to cover up their failed policies, said Deneen Borelli of New York.

One woman held a sign with images of Martin Luther King Jr. and Obama, with the words printed alongside: "He had a dream, we got a nightmare."

Other demonstrators did not focus on Obama but rather on the government at large. Signs promoted gun rights, tallied the national deficit and deplored illegal immigrants in the United States.

Still, many people expressed their views without a hint of rage. They said the size of the crowd illustrated that their views were shared by a broad audience.

"I want Congress to be afraid," said Keldon Clapp, 45, an unemployed marketing representative who recently moved to Tennessee from Connecticut after losing his job. "Like everyone else here, I want them to know that we're watching what they're doing. And they do work for us."

As Obama traveled to Minnesota on Saturday to rally support for his health-care plan, he flew over the assembling crowd in Marine One. The helicopter could be seen flying overhead as the demonstrators marched down Pennsylvania Avenue.

"This is not some kind of radical right-wing group," Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., said as dozens of people streamed by him. "I just hope the Congress, the Senate and the president recognize that people are afraid of what's going on."

DeMint and a handful of Republican members of Congress were the only party leaders on hand for the demonstration. Republican officials said privately that they were pleased by the turnout but also wary of the anger directed at all politicians.

Protesters came by bus, car and airplane, arriving from Texas and Tennessee, New Mexico and New Hampshire, Ohio and Oregon. The messages on their signs told of an intense distrust of the government, which several people said began long before Obama took office.

Small counterprotest

For the most part, Democrats stayed silent Saturday, with the exception of a small group of counterprotesters gathered behind a roadblock to protest what they called a "right-wing rally." Many were clergy members, who said they were concerned about misinformation propagated by opponents of health-care legislation.

"We'd like to have an honest debate," said Chris Korzen, director of the nonprofit Catholics United. "I don't see a lot of substance here."

While there was no shortage of vitriol among protesters, there was also an air of festivity. A band of protesters in Colonial gear wound through the crowd, led by a bell-ringer in a tricorn hat calling for revolution. A folk singer belting out a protest ballad on a guitar brought cheers from listeners.

In conversations, demonstrators identified themselves as Republicans, libertarians, independents and former Democrats. Several speakers denounced the Obama administration's attempt to overhaul health care as "socialism." A few Confederate flags waved in the air, but there were hundreds of American flags and chants of, "USA! USA! USA!"

Ruth Lobbs, 57, a schoolteacher from Jacksonville, Fla., said she flew to Washington on Saturday to protest how she believes the government has violated the Constitution. She said she did not vote for the president, adding that her anger has been building for years.

"It's more than Obama; this isn't a Republican or a Democratic issue," Lobbs said as she held a yellow flag that declared "Don't Tread on Me."

"I don't know if anything will come of this or not," she said, "but this is a peaceful way of showing our frustration."

Material from The Washington Post and The Associated Press is included in this report.