Right Wing Watch is reporting that President-Elect Obama has chosen Pastor Rick Warren, author, leader of the Saddleback Church, and arch anti-gay and anti-atheist bigot, to deliver the invocation at his Inauguration.Â
From Right Wing Watch:
It seems that no matter how many times people, including us, point out that Rick Warren is really just a friendlier version of James Dobson, his media-driven reputation as some sort of “moderate” evangelical preacher continues to win out and, as such, Barack Obama apparently thinks he’s just the right person to put front and center at his inauguration.
[ ... ]
As we’ve pointed out several times before, in 2004 Warren declared that marriage, reproductive choice, and stem cell research were “non-negotiable” issues for Christian voters and has admitted that the main difference between himself and James Dobson is a matter of tone. He criticized Obama’s answers at the Faith Forum he hosted before the election and vowed to continue to pressure him to change his views on the issue of reproductive choice. He came out strongly in support of Prop 8, saying “there is no need to change the universal, historical defintion of marriage to appease 2 percent of our population … This is not a political issue — it is a moral issue that God has spoken clearly about.” He’s declared that those who do not believe in God should not be allowed to hold public office.
This is more than a serious faux pas; this is an insult to all the queers and non-believers who worked their asses off to elect Obama-Biden. We need to let the President-Elect know that parading a homophobic bigot at his big parade rains on ours.
UPDATE: (12-17, 01:43 pm):  Via Pam Spaulding Have complaints to share? Parag Mehta is Obama’s LGBT liaison on the transition team - parag.mehta@ptt.gov
Click for Printable Version
I call it pandering. Looks like his Rove counter-part will need to try harder.
signed,
Obama voter
I was leary of Obama’s rhetoric regarding “A CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN”…It seems all that talk was an election ploy given all his cabinet elects and now this person..I am thoroughly disgusted and disappointed with Mr. Obama. I can’t wait for the endless undermining of all our rights to continue. We are meaningless to the Corporate hold on our politicians, we are little pawns spewing mindless drivel.(imho)
What’s echoing in my mind is Obama’s “God is in the mix” dismissal of marriage equality at Rick Warren’s pre-election debate broadcast from Saddleback Church, not to mention Obama’s half-hearted opposition to California’s Prop 8.
I understand Obama’s desire to “reach out” and to be unite America. But he must remember that it’s liberals who got him elected. It’s liberals (like myself) that donated to his campaign and volunteered for his campaign.
All y’all aren’t very bright. Maybe you should read some more conservative bloggers before you start stabbing your own.
Obama has the house and the senate, he can pretty much enact any policy he wants no matter how far let it is. But if he wants to stay in that position, he needs to keep the public happy otherwise things could turn very ugly during the midterm and second term elections. (If he was in a minority position he would have to moderate his policies in order to get them passed)
Look at California and Prop 8. Overwhelminly suport Obama and yet passed Prop 8. That might suggest that Californians didn’t (entirely) elect him because of his policies. That is to say apparently a large number how voted FOR Barak Obama also voted FOR Prop 8 (or chose not to vote one way or the other I suppose but I don’t think the polling numbers would support that).
By keeping the rhetoric centrist, more inclusive, he will probably keep public support on his side, inspite of his policies which (if we extrapolate from prop 8 out to infinity) might not be supported by that public to the same extent.
But then perhaps the apparent “outcry” from his supporters will simply foster the appearance of centrism without its reality