More pastor disaster.
Many on the left and in the LGBT community are furious about Pastor Rick Warren giving the opening invocation prayer at the Inauguration.
While I understand the hurt and sense of betrayal, the Oblogger plans to withhold judgment until after Obama gets in office and creates policy, which is the important thing.
Obama will have to demonstrate his commitment to his LGBT constituency, which is sick and tired of getting thrown under the political bus... and rightly so.
But please... can cooler heads prevail? And may we let Obama get in office before we disown him? I say short-term sacrifice for long-term gain.
Rick Warren and I are on opposite sides of the ideological fence on so many issues: a woman's right to choose, stem cell research, school prayer, and gay marriage.
But I'm not up in arms about this choice because I don't see this invocation as an endorsement of his views, but rather Obama's doing just as he said he was going to do and inviting those with whom you have differences to be part of the table.
And can we please get real? Barack Hussein Obama is a black (biracial) man who scares the crap out of a sizable number of Americans. He's scary, he's foreign... they feel that their way of life is threatened somehow by his presidency.
Creating progressive change, like a healthcare agenda, will take a broad coalition with a variety of political views.
Obama has got to alleviate the fear of these people and let them know that he will be the president for all Americans and not just a wild-eyed lefty.
Change is good. We voted for change. But when there is too much change, people get scared and there is a backlash. Do you want Obama to be a one-term president? Pulling people so far outside their comfort zones that they go back to something that feels familar in the next election? We have to make baby steps to change.
Proposition 8 passed because there was not enough outreach from the LGBT community into poor communities. Black and Latino pastors told their congregation to vote for it. They did as they were told.
Proposition 8 passed with a narrow victory. I firmly believe that if the LGBT political strategists had done their due diligence they could have peeled off enough votes to defeat it.
As it stands, we have to move forward and know that there is a gaping need for more outreach into communities of color and more dialogue (however heated).
The Internet can be a good place for these conversations to take place. People can hash out their differences around these issues and not worry that they're going to get punched in the face.
Believe me, I would love to be wrong, but I don't think that the campaign to get Obama to rescind the Warren invitation is going to be effective. If Obama were to rescind it, imagine the media firestorm about Obama "caving to the libruls!" and being weak.
Here is the Obama camp's response to the Warren pick.
A spokeswoman for President-elect Barack Obama defended the choice of Rick Warren to give the invocation, saying it reflects Obama’s desire to have “the most open and inclusive inauguration in history.” Obama's selection of Warren drew heated criticism from gay activists Wednesday.
“Warren has been a passionate advocate on behalf of the poor and has really led evangelicals to champion the interest who suffer from HIV and AIDS and been an outspoken voice on issue of global warming,” said Linda Douglass. “President-elect Obama has made it clear that he doesn’t agree with Warren on issues around the LGBT community.” Douglass said it’s notable that Joseph Lowery, [Note: Lowery is for gay marriage] who has been a strong advocate for civil rights for all and was a close friend of Martin Luther King, is giving the benediction.
Come on Obamanauts, let's "make nice" and have a good time at the Inauguration. We've worked hard... but the real work is still to come. Sphere: Related Content
