Rick Warren/"Saddleback Church" the Inauguraton flap. Is Obama's 'outreach' just an isolated 'overreach'
Is Obama's invitation to a preacher famous as a homophobe merely an isolated outreach and return-the-favor, or is it just another symptom of an incoming administration that is orienting to the center right? If the latter, should we have known this all along or is it an unexpected abandonment of supporters on the left?
Obama definitely made it clear all along that he does not identify with blacks and the struggles of the 60's, and it is unclear if he has suffered racism. However, he certainly allowed the left to continue to make assumptions about him -- perfectly their own responsibility -- based on the color of his skin (more appropriately "biracial", than "black", some now say).
I don't find many of the comparisons of the Warren invite to inviting other stereotypical bigots -- e.g. why not invite an anti-Semite -- totally persuasive. However, bigoted-by-association is a reasonable accusation given that the plain reading of the situation ("Plain" readings being a legal notion Obama clearly understands) would be to insult most GLBT's, most on the left, many moderates, and perhaps others. Obama either ignored that, or chose to embrace it intentionally.
While Obama may seek to position himself as a post-partisan figure, it takes a huge ego and arrogance to do so at the cost of offending those who arguably suffer most at the hands of partisan cultural bigotry. Wrong message, wrong, forum, wrong tactic.
Obama definitely made it clear all along that he does not identify with blacks and the struggles of the 60's, and it is unclear if he has suffered racism. However, he certainly allowed the left to continue to make assumptions about him -- perfectly their own responsibility -- based on the color of his skin (more appropriately "biracial", than "black", some now say).
I don't find many of the comparisons of the Warren invite to inviting other stereotypical bigots -- e.g. why not invite an anti-Semite -- totally persuasive. However, bigoted-by-association is a reasonable accusation given that the plain reading of the situation ("Plain" readings being a legal notion Obama clearly understands) would be to insult most GLBT's, most on the left, many moderates, and perhaps others. Obama either ignored that, or chose to embrace it intentionally.
While Obama may seek to position himself as a post-partisan figure, it takes a huge ego and arrogance to do so at the cost of offending those who arguably suffer most at the hands of partisan cultural bigotry. Wrong message, wrong, forum, wrong tactic.
