Right-wing talk-show host compared Obama to Hitler, Mao, and Castro

U.S. president-elect Barack Obama gave a stirring speech tonight on how he hopes to heal divisions within his country.

But judging from a report from the media watchdog group  Media Matters for America, Obama could face difficult challenges dealing with the plethora of right-wing talk-show hosts, who influence public opinion.

According to Media Matters for America, a Cincinnati broadcaster, Bill Cunningham, has drawn comparisons between Obama and Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, claiming that Obama wants to "gas the Jews". That statement would be illegal in Canada under federal broadcasting legislation.

Here's what's on the Media Matters for America Web site regarding Cunningham's comments:

On the November 3 broadcast of his Cincinnati-based radio show, Bill Cunningham repeatedly compared Sen. Barack Obama to dictators such as Fidel Castro, Mao Zedong, and Adolf Hitler.

Cunningham stated: "Much like Castro took over Cuba, Mao Zedong took over Red China, and the Communists took over Russia, Obama now is poised, according to many of my good friends on the left like Paul Mason and others, to seize power in America, and I hope to be a bloodless coup."

Cunningham later added, "[Obama] goes out to his left-wing buddies in San Francisco and smears God, smears guns, smears everything great about this country. Then he comes to these rallies like bromides, like Adolf Hitler in 1933, and the faithful are shouting, 'Yes we can, yes we can.' "

During the program, Cunningham also stated: "Obama's gonna make America go repeatedly and radically to the left and is gonna impose the values of Louis Farrakhan, Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers, Bernardine Dohrn, and other left-wing radicals who want to blow up the Pentagon and kill police officers, and mainstream those values into Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana. And if you think that's what America needs tomorrow, go ahead and vote for the socialist. Vote for Castro."

As Media Matters for America has documented, numerous media figures have compared Obama to Hitler and the Nazis in recent days. Cunningham asserted on the October 30 broadcast of his show that "Obama wants to gas the Jews."