Wednesday, December 17, 2008

This Is Not Good,( with corrections and additions)

Washington Monthly has a piece today on Obama choosing Rick Warren as invocation minister for his inauguration. It includes many reasons why he should not be awarded such a highly visible role. It's tantamount to endorsement by the incoming administration for his "non-negotiable", right wing views on abortion and sexual orientation.

And here is the Cheat Sheet's contribution.

And then there's his unbelievable endorsement of Sean Hannity's suggestion that we should "take out" the president of Iran.

The man has too much in common with the likes of the James Dobsons of the world and the neocons we thought we kicked out of office in November.

I've been fine with and actually supportive of Obama's team selections so far. But this is not good. Even though we're not talking about a cabinet position it provides Warren too influential a platform for his far rightwing views. There should be just as much outrage over this as if Obama had chosen Jeremiah Wright to make the invocation. Just as 5 is the mathematical average of the numbers 0 and 10 but is not actually the absolute number 5, honoring extremists doesn't result in a centrist position. Obama chose Warren apparently because of his human rights advocacy and AIDS work. Unfortunately Warren is better known for his oppostion to abortion and gay rights which he says are "non-negotiable".

Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper

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