Thursday, December 18, 2008

Every Cloud Must Have a Silver Lining

And I'm trying to find it with the choice of Rick Warren.  I suppose it was politics that drove the decision.  Obama said explicitly and frequently that he wants to be President of all the people of the United States, and not just of the people who elected him.  That's fair enough, but Warren is a very divisive figure in a very focus-grouped carefully marketed wrapper.  It's the old combination of prosperity gospel and parochialism dressed up in suburban franchise packaging.

Hell, why not go for a twofer and have +Gene Robinson give the benediction; piss off the left on one end and the right on the other.  And the irony is that on certain matters of history, theology, and doctrine, Bishop Robinson is actually  MORE conservative than Warren.

I would even prefer to see the elderly Billy Graham wheeled out on a gurney to the inauguration than listen to Warren.

Despite the inevitable Democratic Party leadership tone-deafness to the feelings of its most inconvenient but reliable constituency, LGBTs, I'm still "punched as pleased" to see Obama become the 44th President of the United States of America.

UPDATE:
Elizabeth Kaeton has a very good, measured, and thoughtful post on Rick Warren at the Inauguration here.
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6 comments:

  1. David G.December 18, 2008 at 10:19 PM

    Well, Jerry Falwell is dead, and Pat Robertson would have been waaaaay over the top,....so that leaves Rick.

    ReplyDelete
  2. it's margaretDecember 18, 2008 at 10:30 PM

    Not just our LGBT community Counterlight.... Warren is a bible-thumping literalist woman-hater.

    ReplyDelete
  3. CounterlightDecember 18, 2008 at 10:38 PM

    I say get rid of Warren and let Margaret Cho do the invocation. She's really a Christian, after all. I'd pay to see that.

    ReplyDelete
  4. CounterlightDecember 18, 2008 at 10:44 PM

    Margaret,

    If he don't like the homosexickles, then you know he ain't gonna like anyone with 2 X chromosomes.

    ReplyDelete
  5. UnknownDecember 19, 2008 at 3:45 AM

    I'm sorry to be so out spoken on your blog when I hardly know you but I did come here specifically because I thought you would have something to say about this.

    I read in the post below how you said it bothers you that everyone tiptoes around Warren. Well, I'm not liking how everyone tip-toes around Obama either. Like you, I'm pleased he is our next president but I don't intend to let him off the hook on certain things. And since this is one of my pet issues, I'm prepared to blast him every time he messes up. And he's messed up.

    Not to mention that religion and electoral politics don't go hand-in-hand in my book.

    ReplyDelete
  6. it's margaretDecember 19, 2008 at 9:41 AM

    I'm with you Counterlight --Margaret Cho. A real Christian!

    ReplyDelete

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