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UPSET

They are still flipping over Obama's choice of Rick Warren to say a two minute invocation at the inaugural.

Obama’s Choice of Pastor Creates Furor

Yesterday I stumbled upon some of the vilest and most scurrilous anti-Obama material I have seen and it was on a presumably liberal gay web site.

I guess being a lefty doesn't immunize you from being hateful.

I have pretty much put this away but I still think that people should get a grip.

This guy Warren is not my cup of tea but he has done some good things. He is not a hellfire and damnation guy. He is just ignorant. And out of date. Not evil things.

I really think that Obama is being very wise here.

He is fundamentally co-opting the fundamentalists. Warren is seen as a leader from outside but inside the fundies, the power centers are with the really really hateful Dobson and others of his ilk.

This has to upset the inner workings of fundamentalist politics. And yes there is one.

Before I saw it anywhere else, I pointed to Warren's potential as a Billy Graham figure.

There has always been one and, mostly, it has been Billy Graham. A relatively harmless figure head who provided political cover to many administrations over the years.

Warren is moving to a new point of view. He favors gay unions. He has done much of his work with AIDS.

Does anyone know that this guy reverse tithes? He gives away 90% of his income and keeps 10. And that goes to some pretty good causes in my book.

He has said some stupid things but he is talking to his base after all.

I have said before that this is why I do not like identity politics. It is why Obama is trying to get beyond it.

Look!

I want my rights and all. I want to stay married. And at the same time, I want a national consensus on health care, a solid move to solve the energy crisis, an initiative to get the world moving on slowing then stopping global warming. I want us out of Iraq. I want to speak to our allies and our 'enemies' before they become enemies. I want what Obama offers overall.

I want an end to this partisan poison, this name calling, this divisiveness.

That means that I have to be willing to talk to "them" as much as for "them" to talk to and acknowledge me.

There are going to be more of these upsets as Obama tries to right the listing ship of state. He will want to include a lot of people that I may not approve of. Good for him to have the courage to unite rather than to pander and separate.

We can see where that has gotten us.

Labels: Administration Obama