Obama Will Be a Good President But the Warren Invocation is Still Wrong.

I'm amazed at how many people here at DU don't seem to be able to understand that we in the GLBT community supported Obama and still support him. We just want him to support us with more than words. His words say he supports GLBT rights but action is to let a famous hater of the gays open the next eight years of his presidency. That is a powerful symbol and a very scary signal to those of us who work for him but do not have our basic civil rights.

I'm all for reaching out to those with differing views. I think we should work with everyone on the political spectrum to create a better America. But how does promoting a gay-basher do this? Would Obama allow Stromfront to lead the inaugural parade to show this spirit of unity? Are African American civil rights more important than GLBT civil rights?

There are many telling us in the GLBT community to shut up, today, and our rights will come to us later. We've heard that too many times. Yes, President Obama is preferable to President McCain, but many of us didn't vote for him to be then mocked and isolated for expecting that he would treat us with the same respect we gave him.

We voted for change and now we want it. We've spent centuries of being harassed, beaten, ostracized and killed. It's time now to be treated as equals. Just like every other group that has fought for civil rights we are demanding ours, and we have a right to expect our president to not support those who actively hate us. We have the right to expect that of everyone.

We have a right to stand up for ourselves.

We've been there to support you, why will you not support us?

I am no longer sure he'll even be passable.

The problem is that there has not been a single really good president for GLBT rights in the history of America so the bar has been set very, very low.

and Clinton was terrible on GLBT issues.

His choice of a man who puclicly support proposition 8 after that passed demonstrates Obama has no understanding whatsoever of the GLBT community.

Clinton at least had a passable understanding of the GLBT community.

I'm beginning to have my doubts as well, but if he does half the things for the GLBT community he has promised then he will be the best president for our rights in history.

as you do, that Obama will be a great president.

I think you have every right to question his judgment in making this choice. He made this mistake once--and I (for better or worse) forgave him. This was before my awakening to the seriousness of the civil rights issues GLBT face, and the disaster of Prop 8. But for Obama to make this mistake a second time, in the wake of Prop 8, is a mystery to me. I want to give him the benefit of the doubt, but to call this choice bewildering would be an understatement.

So, I completely understand the GLBT outrage at this. I'm a bit outraged too.

It seems like another piling on the GLBT community. Just one more insult, one more slap in the face.

By pissing off a vocal group within his base he can claim that he is more moderate than many conservatives think. If this is the case, I will never support him again. My civil rights are not a token to be used in some cynical game of politics.

I have to believe this isn't the case, but if it is, I will be done with him.

I was wondering.

I agree with you, if he's doing that, it is disgraceful beyond belief.

But having just re-read his book "Audacity of Hope," it's so hard for me to believe he would do anything like that. He would have to be a sociopath to do something that hurtful.

I hope that is not the case. That would disillusion me beyond words.

Mostly because every action taken that legitimizes the hatred of GLBTs is another step away from our civil rights. It is also a step backward and away from a time when beating up gay people is unacceptable. It's a step away from a time when "he hit on me" is no longer a viable excuse for murder in our courts.

That is what Rick Warren stands for and it is disgusting that so many here at DU seem to have no problem with that.

I can't find an answer anywhere, and this seems to be as good a place as any to ask it.

I understand the invocation is a prayer calling on God to bless and guide the new President and his administration -- but does it have a set and traditional text, or is it composed specially for each inauguration by the officiating clergyman?

If it's the latter, does the new president (or the Congress) approve the text to ensure it is a prayer and not a sermon, much less a policy speech?

It's not the words Warren will say when he's up on that stage, its the fact that to many Americans he will be the one ushering in the Obama presidency. That the person doing so is a hater of the GLBT community is symbolism that will not be lost on the audience.

I couldn't find anything about this on the net, and the whole business strikes me as strange in a country where the government is supposed to be entirely secular, deriving its authority not from God but from the will of the people.... To have not one but two prayers comes perilously close to making it a religious ceremony.

It struck me that if there were a text prescribed by tradition -- maybe along the lines of the Carolean one that opens each day's debate in the House of Commons -- then it wouldn't matter so much who delivered it.

http://www.parliament.uk/about/how/business/prayers.cfm

But if Mr Warren has been invited to compose the prayer, then that is a big worry. The temptation to preach his personal views will be very great, and if the Obama team tones these down some people will start screaming that his freedom of religion is being abridged.

Warren was a clumsy choice, to put it politely; and I agree that even if he has the sense to tread very carefully the message the world will hear will be the singer, not the song. We are listening.

The list of people Warren looks down on is pretty long, starting with women (half the population). Then there's Jews... where does it end?

And his invitation to the invocation should be rescinded. Period. There is NO acceptable excuse. We've put up with 8 fucking years of evangelical BULLSHIT and I've had it - as I would hope most others who are tired of being DOMINATED by these assholes would have too! Arghhhhhhhhh!!! :mad: :grr:

I want to see the so-called center shifted back to the actual center, not have the fucking far right as center legitimized.

Actual campaigning against Proposition 8, however, should have disqualified Warren, especially right on the heels of that vote.