Obama Chooses Evangelical Rick Warren to Deliver Inaugural Invocation – or Let’s Watch Some Heads Explode
By Anita Finlay ("Ani") on December 18, 2008 at 1:00 PM in Abortion, Andrew Sullivan, Bamboozling, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Sexism, Women
CNN’s Alexander Mooney reports in his article Obama’s Inaugural Choice Sparks Outrage:
Prominent liberal groups and gay rights proponents criticized President-elect Barack Obama Wednesday for choosing evangelical pastor Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at the presidential inauguration next month.
Warren, one of the most influential religious leaders in the nation, has championed issues such as a reduction of global poverty, human rights abuses and the AIDS epidemic.
But the founder of the Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, has also adhered to socially conservative stances — including his opposition to gay marriage and abortion rights that puts him at odds with many in the Democratic Party, especially the party’s most liberal wing.
At odds? How could the Democratic liberal wing have expected otherwise? Throughout the primary, P.E. Obama made all sorts of promises to try to get the edge over Hillary Clinton, then went about reneging on every one of them. Remember FISA? Once he secured the nod, he arrogantly said “I understand if it’s a deal-breaker, but where else you gonna go?”
That’s right. You are now a notch on his bedpost. He got what he wanted from you and since he knew most of you would NEVER vote Republican, he blithely went about pandering to the next group he required to get him where he wanted to go. As far as he was concerned, since Hillary was gone, you had no other choice but to vote for him.
And this comment really said it all:
“[It's] shrewd politics, but if anyone is under any illusion that Obama is interested in advancing gay equality, they should probably sober up now,” Andrew Sullivan wrote on the Atlantic Web site Wednesday.
Now Andrew Sullivan wants to complain???????????
I have finally found one thing I have in common with Obama’s supporters. My head is going to explode along with all of theirs. How could any of them have voted for this man? Or had half an eye open this entire year and pretended for a moment that Barack Obama was anything but allergic to GLBT rights? Or to women’s rights, for that matter – but we’ll get to that later.
As to Mr. Sullivan, you coulda had Hillary, my dear. You know, the one you trashed with every fiber of your being despite the fact that she is the one who actually stood up loud and proud for you and your man to have equal rights. Did you ever see Barack marching in the Gay Pride parade? You should check with Hillary as to Barack’s whereabouts, ’cause she’s always there.
Instead you chose to worship at the foot of Obama. Yes, Andrew, P.E. Obama is the one who campaigned down south repeatedly with the likes of Donnie “ex-gay man reformed through prayer” McClurkin, ‘cause Barack needed to court all those evangelicals and homophobes.
Dear Andrew, let me explain how politics works. You know what every nominee wants? To get elected. You know what every first term President wants? A second term. And as Rick Warren himself just said:
“For 5,000 years, every culture and every religion — not just Christianity — has defined marriage as a contract between men and women,” Warren wrote in a newsletter to his congregation. “There is no reason to change the universal, historical definition of marriage to appease 2 percent of our population.”
Ya’ get it now, Andrew? You are too small a percentage for Barack to sweat it.
Obama don’t care about you and yours because there are a helluva lot more evangelicals, religious conservatives and homophobes in this country than there are of you and your Gay brethren and sisteren. Got it? He figures he’s got you lined up anyway. He’s gonna go after the harder nut to crack that will give him a bigger reward at the polls for next time.
How does it feel to be under the bus? With the rest of us? Like I said before, plenty of room under here. We serve bitter burgers with arugula every day at 4 pm. Bring your own chips and pickles. And you might try eating a little crow while you are at it.
You could ask us women Hillary supporters how it feels under the bus. We were told very loudly this year that we did not matter, either.
To Andrew, and every other member of the GLBT community who fell for Obama and deserted Hillary – when she was the candidate who always stood up for you – how does it feel to keep chasing a club that doesn’t want you as a member?
That is exactly what Andrew Sullivan did in 2000. He enthusiastically jumped on the Bush bandwagon, even though Bush and the neo-cons would just as well have rather rounded up all the Gay folk in a football stadium and pretend they didn’t exist. Andrew was all for the Iraq war. Then in 2004, he changed his mind, did a big mea culpa and rejected Bush and his cronies.
Now if a man has the advantage of hindsight and the empirical evidence to know that his own judgment is suspect, wouldn’t you think that he wouldn’t rush off half-cocked and make the same mistake yet again? Unfortunately, Mr. Sullivan is not blessed with the gift of self-awareness.
Mr. Mooney’s article goes on to report:
People for the American Way President Kathryn Kolbert told CNN she is “deeply disappointed” with the choice of Warren and said the powerful platform at the inauguration should instead have been given to someone who has “consistent mainstream American values.”
“There is no substantive difference between Rick Warren and James Dobson,” Kolbert said. “The only difference is tone. His tone is moderate, but his ideas are radical.”
Dobson, a social conservative leader, is founder and chairman of Focus on the Family.
Linda Douglass, a spokeswoman for Obama, defended the choice of Warren, saying, “This is going to be the most inclusive, open, accessible inauguration in American history.”“The president-elect certainly disagrees with him on [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender] issues,” Douglass said. “But it has always been his goal to find common ground with people with whom you may disagree on some issues.”
I see, Linda. Common ground? Nice sound bite. Well I invite you all to go back and read Barack Obama’s interview with The Advocate if you want to see more of his “nuanced positions” and his “search for common ground” re abortion or GLBT rights. I defy you to discern where he stands on either. He also delivered a “nuanced position” on Prop 8 in California telling people to vote no, while simultaneously saying marriage is only between a man and a woman. No mixed message there.
Warren’s support of California’s Proposition 8, a measure that outlaws same sex marriage in the state, sparked the ire of many gay rights proponents earlier this fall.
Warren, … wrote in October that the issue of gay marriage is not a political issue, but instead “a moral issue that God has spoken clearly about.”
Warren also stirred controversy earlier this week when he told Beliefnet.com his grounds for opposing same-sex marriage laid primarily on his right of free speech.
“There were all kinds of threats that if [Proposition 8] did not pass, then any pastor could be considered doing hate speech if he shared his views that he didn’t think homosexuality was the most natural way for relationships, and that would be hate speech.”
You’re kidding me, right? I see, Rev. Warren. But not allowing the GLBT community to have equal rights – what do you call that?
Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights campaign, said Wednesday he feels a “deep level of disrespect” over the choice of Warren and is calling on Obama to reconsider the move.
“By inviting Rick Warren to your inauguration, you have tarnished the view that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans have a place at your table,” Solmonese said in an open letter to Obama that was released by his organization
Does anyone think Hillary would have chosen Rick Warren to deliver her inaugural invocation?
I think P.E. Obama has made his views quite clear. Actions speak louder than “words, just words.”
Furthermore in that interview with The Advocate where he discusses trying to see all sides, i.e., never answering where he truly stands on GLBT rights, Obama then insults women by saying
“…Many Democrats don’t understand that abortion is a wrenching moral issue.”
Oh? Do we not, Barack?
Which brings me to my next complaint. Ladies, for any of you who were seduced into voting for this affable young shape-shifter, you are a notch on his bedpost, too.
It was Hillary, not him, always fighting for the rights of women, and their rights of choice, their rights to have all available contraception and health care. She put groups like NARAL and NOW on the map only have them abandon her for Obama’s seductive smile – though he has never done anything for women’s or GLBT rights that I could see. Hillary also said she believed that abortion should be “safe, legal and rare. And to add further insult to injury:
In his recent interview with Beliefnet, Warren also sparked outrage among supporters of abortion rights for criticizing those who have said abortion would be “safe and rare.”
“Don’t tell me it should be rare,” he said in the interview. “That’s like saying on the Holocaust, ‘Well, maybe we could save 20 percent of the Jewish people in Poland and Germany and get them out and we should be satisfied with that — I’m not satisfied with that. I want the Holocaust ended.”
Warren is comparing a woman’s right to choose to the Holocaust? That is outrageous. Further, it is a horrible and highly irresponsible thing to say. A man who makes this kind of statement is invited to make the invocation at Obama’s inauguration? How can women stand for this?
How can the Democratic Party stand for this? We are supposed to be the progressive party that stands for women’s equality and the right of women to have dominion over their own bodies. To have true equality, we cannot have our private health choices legislated to us by religious leaders or a bunch of rich, old, white men in Congress. We are also supposed to be the party that stands for equal rights for the GLBT community. What happened there? What kind of doublespeak is this? Mooney’s article concludes with the following disturbing piece of information:
[Warren’s] book “The Purpose Driven Life” has sold more than 20 million copies since it was first published five years ago, and Time magazine named him one of the 25 most influential evangelicals in 2005.
“Many believe that Warren … is the successor to the [Rev. Billy Graham] for the role of America’s minister,” Time wrote in 2005.
If that is so, heaven help us. President-Elect Obama sends a very disturbing message with this choice and makes quite clear where his priorities lie. Surely, they do not rest with progressive men, women or the GLBT community. His latest action only bears out what we have been saying all along: he is not who he pretends to be.
by Ronald Scott
* More novels by 
* 
(
)
- You'll have access to 18 million movies, TV shows, songs, magazines, and books, as well as ultra-fast Web browsing with Amazon Silk -- faster than iPad. Full e-mail and document access and a keyboard. Fire can transmit what is on your screen onto a connected TV or monitor without an accessory. It runs Flash (iPad doesn't). 
Pingback: Obama Chooses Evangelical Rick Warren to Deliver Inaugural… at Hillary Clinton On Best Political Blogs
Pingback: Buried in snow link cache [brrrrr Edition] | Patriot Missive