History Is The Greatest Weapon': Glenn Beck Talks About the Failure of Politicians to Understand the Past in Powerful Oval Segment

In tonight's "Oval" speech, Glenn Beck turned to a favorite topic as a lens through which to dissect the problems of modern American politicians - namely, their failure to understand history.

"History is the greatest weapon against one of mankind's strongest enemies," Beck said. "Forgetfulness."

Indeed, according to Beck, it is forgetfulness that is responsible for most of the delinquent behavior and poor responsiveness of today's political class. They delude themselves about their own importance, according to Beck, believing that they are the only ones who have ever faced a problem.

"They pretended like they were the first Americans to face a challenge, but they were not the first, not even the second," Beck thundered. "The circumstances change. The cast of characters change. The culture changes. But in the end, the challenges are the same: Prosperity or stagnancy? Freedom or dependency? Justice or injustice? Unity or disunity? The individual or the state?"

Naturally, no one came in for this brand of criticism more strongly than current President Barack Obama, who Beck accused of holding a grudge against the country due to a combination of historical ignorance and personal arrogance.

"If the current President, or any President, stopped to learn some history, stopped to think about what history teaches him, he might realize that America is better than he thinks," Beck said. "More independent, more industrious, more more capable of great things."

But, Beck said, even if the President didn't read history and understand it, his viewers should.

"We're going to have to fix this mess, and it would be good if you've read the manual first," Beck said.

Watch Beck deliver this powerful speech below: