I’ve been spending quite a bit of time today unhappily mulling Obama’s choice of Rick Warren to give the invocation at his inauguration. (See also Rachel and JJ in the comments to the post 2 before this one.) Warren is seriously right wing: anti-gay, pro-forced childbearing, and an advocate of wifely submission. Giving him a platform like this and treating him as acceptable is horrendous, and should be protested. We can do so here.
At the same time, I also think that this may in fact be a smart move of Obama’s that will have good consequences– IF WE MAKE SURE THAT IT DOES. Hear me out here, please. If Obama wants to get things done without the constant vitriolic opposition faced by the Clintons, one way to do that may be to throw a bone to the right. Warren’s a hugely powerful figure, and if his flock think Obama’s OK, that could help Obama a lot. And how much better to have the bone be something symbolic like this (repulsive as it is) than actually *doing* something they want. In addition, Warren is a leader in getting evangelicals to care about poverty, and forging different coalitions for different issues is a smart strategy.
Now, what we need to do is to make bloody sure that Obama doesn’t go throwing any bones beyond this symbolic one. And we need to make sure he knows just how much he’s already asking us to tolerate. How do we do that? By telling him, forcefully, just how offensive it is to have Rick Warren deliver the invocation. So let’s do that.
Great idea to contact the team. Many thanks!
According to Andrew Sullivan, Warren will not say he is against authorizing torture:
I feel I need to add that this had got to be one of the worst ways to include him. I mean, the position is supposed to be for a spiritual leader.
I’m wondering if the ceremony is written in stone; could he have had more than one person, so it was clear that it wasn’t a particular endorsement of one point of view.
BTW, the link above takes you to a discussion you can participate in the NY Times. There are also interesting pro and anti comments.
Thanks so much for a place to put my objections. I understand being inclusive however inclusion should be moderated by good sense and shared values. AIDS in Africa is not enough to justify the disconnects…or what I thought were disconnects. I would hate to tell me grown son he was right, I was wrong and I’ve been conned.
[...] Center Facebook group set up by People for the American Way Facebook post from No on Prop 8 group Feminist Philosophers are weighing in with more links and suggestions for action People for the American Way press release AmericaBlog [...]
The religious wrong is powerful not because they represent a vast number of people. They are vocal and keep forcing themselves onto the stage (literally in this case). I find it offensive that Obama & his team find it necessary to peddle toward this vocal minority and thus slapping the majority of us who have supported him in the face. I understand that reaching out across the aisle is important. But you don’t have to reach so far that you risk loosing the people sitting next to you. Obama could’ve picked someone less extreme and still opened up the tent.
In some ways, this reminds me of the advice to women to just take it for the good of the family or whatever. After the last 8 years, I think it’s time for us to take back our country, bones and all, from the religious wrong.
One more thing: Why do we think that reaching out to someone like Warren would be inclusive? He represents the part of the US public that is very divisive and exclusionary.
He may be throwing a bone. However this may be a charitable interpretation.
People have placed such hope in Obama. Sometimes it can be hard to see the reality that he is far from perfect. Let’s keep a critical eye on him. This was a terrible choice to swear him in at the inauguration.
PQ: I’m with you on the evaluation, but as a point of fact, it’s more or less traditional for the Chief Justice to do the swearing in, and so the Invocation giver probably won’t.
JJ, thank you for the clarification. I thought Warren was doing the swearing in as well.