Replace rick warren NOW Barack, before it's too late.

[Philosoraptor]

ANYBODY but rick fucking warren Barack, anybody but this asshole.

What the hell were you thinking Barack? What's with you and crazy preachers?

UN-invite the son of a bitch quick, and we'll forget all about it.

Come on Barack, think about it, SURELY you can find someone less divisive and bigoted.

[Pale Blue Dot]

1. It's already too late, especially by Obama's standard of trying to make everyone happy.

Hopefully he'll learn from this.

[Swamp Rat]

2. k&r

[Philosoraptor]

5. Ooooh, good one Rat!

[Swamp Rat]

6. Way'at Philosoraptor!

:hi:

[Hubert Flottz]

10. Look to the clouds for the silver lining...

At least it will be too cold for Preacher Ricky to bring his snakes along on the trip to Washington.

I wonder if the taxpayers are paying Rick's way to the shin-dig?

[mediaman007]

3. Maybe he knows what he is doing. Maybe he is smarter than some of us.

[Philosoraptor]

4. Or, maybe not.

[elocs]

12. I'd say absolutely "yes".

I think that not only does Obama know what he is doing, but he is not simply smarter than some of us, he is smarter than most of us and I base my opinion upon regularly reading DU where so many believe that their opinions are above questioning and are an immutable law of the universe.

[Donnachaidh]

11. or maybe he doesn't really have strong convictions and is playing the politics game

You don't throw a large chunk of your constituency under the bus before those constituents hand over the keys to the WH. Not if you're hoping to have people cut you slack on later far MORE important decisions you will be facing.

[BeFree]

13. Indeed

There are many far MORE important decisions than this one. And to say that the gays were thrown under the bus is just stupid, as this decision effects not one of them in their fight to get rights.

Really, the whole thing is a turnoff. The reaction to Obama makes me very uncomfortable when I think about the future and working politics.

[Jamastiene]

7. You can't reason with people like Warren.

Those types are ALWAYS unreasonable people. If they make shit up like he has about the gay community, they stick with it and nothing will change their minds.

I realize that Obama probably thinks he can reason with this guy somewhere down the road, but, in reality, many of us are going to be saying "I told you so."

There is no compromising with the right wing. Period. They don't do compromise.

[Philosoraptor]

8. Give em an inch and they want a mile.

[Oak2004]

9. My email to change.gov:

I understand the need for dialogue and coalition building. I'm an organizer, too, and I have woven together alliances as bizarre as one involving both liberals and a member of Frank Colin's American Nazi Party, when I was an activist on the southwest side of Chicago many years ago.

There's a place for Rick Warren, just as there was a place for my "token Nazi friend", Freddie, in the coalition dealing with education issues. I really liked Freddie as a person, and he was a tireless worker, one of the few people I could always count on. But while Freddie lived in the neighborhood and shared a common objective with the rest of us, Freddie could not ever stand in a place of honor, could not ever have been the face we presented to the world.

Why? Because to a great many people, Freddie and people like him are the face of hate. Unless Freddie renounced his neo-Nazism, his was not the face we could, in good conscience, present to the world.

America and the world is full of survivors of gay hating. There are gaybashing survivors who wake with nightmares every night, their minds still assaulted by the memories. There are people who were arrested in pre-Stonewall bar raids who were beaten by police and who lost everything when their name appeared in the police blotter the next day. There are the tens of thousands of people who've been thrown out onto the street to fend for themselves after their parents learned they were gay, and who somehow survived the cold, the hunger, the violence, and the desperation to make it to this day.

And yes, there still are those of us who were institutionalized for what, in my case, was called "maladjustment to the feminine role". I deal with those memories mostly by thinking about them as little as possible, though I can't help but remember things when I look at the scar from a beating by staff that I still have on my right arm.

Note I'm not using the word "homophobia". I don't use that word because I think it makes hate sound like a minor psychiatric disorder rather than what it is: the desire to wipe gays and lesbians off the face of the planet. I'm not overstating this. Some haters go about it directly by stringing dying men up on a fence alone in the cold, while others put on a mask of kindness as they work to strip individuals of their identity as a person. Whatever the method, the goal is that I and others like me should cease to exist as intact human beings.

When you picked Rick Warren, you may have thought you chose diversity. But you are wrong. You've given your Freddie a podium and a microphone and pushed him out to meet the neighborhood on your behalf. You've chosen to present your administration to millions of Americans with the face of hate, and you've done so at the worst possible moment, given Rick Warren's involvement in Proposition 8. It's as if I not only chosen Freddie to represent us to the world, I had done so immediately after Freddie made a name for himself by marching through Skokie.

Had I done that with Freddie, I should not have been surprised if I had hurt and angered Jewish residents and their supporters. Sooner or later, I would have had to recognize what I had done to them, and apologize.

Sooner or later you will have to stop the rationalizations and the justifications for your decision, and understand that you have deeply hurt people who have already suffered much. You will have to apologize.

The sooner, the better.

[Bluenorthwest]

14. Very well put

And exactly on the mark.

[Philosoraptor]

15. Nicely written

[Ms. Toad]

16. Excellent.

I hope some of the "STFU, wait for your time, it's not that big a deal" jerks here on DU take the time to read this and begin to get a clue. It is so tiring to be working so hard to push the bus of my body, only to be told I am mistaken - I wasn't really thrown under the bus.

[johnfunk]

17. bring 'em on, I say: Rev. Joseph Lowery will, as the kids say, "pwn3d" Rick Warren

I'm no fan of Warren, but if it gives Obama cred among the fundies, it does not in fact hurt.

And I can guarantee you that while people will remember "Oh, right, that Purpose-Driven Life pastor dude said a prayer," people will actually remember what it is that Rev. Joseph Lowery actually said.

Shrewd move by Obama: string along the fundies, then make America's Top Celebrity Pastor™ look weak by comparison to a founder of the Civil Rights movement.

:popcorn:

[shadowknows69]

18. I'll go you one better raptor man

How about we ban ALL hints of religious ceremony in our Government functions.

[Philosoraptor]

19. NO RELIGIOUS DISPLAYS or speeches or prayers in our government

The impossible dream.

[SammyWinstonJack]

21. !!

:thumbsup:

[book_worm]

20. Anybody? how about Pat Robertson instead?

You probably should address this to the Obama transition team to have a better result.

[Bucky]

24. Too controversial. I wonder if Pope Benedict is available

[Jennicut]

22. I think Obama will never recover from this

maybe he is done already, or am I just depressed?

[book_worm]

23. Terrible decision by Obama, but...

most Americans, unfortunately, are not up in arms over it.

[Bucky]

26. I'm sorry our president is making this crappy, insensitive choice.

It's not catastrophic. It's not policy shaping. It's a bad choice. But giving him lots of negative, constructive feedback now will help him get his political bearings. Get involved; activity is always the best treatment for the blues.

I'm sorry you got stiffed by our chief public servant. He's still family, but the lay of the country didn't substantially change with this election. It was just a 5% shift in voting preferences. It will still be a fight getting us to full equality.

:hug: We'll overcome; I promise.

[Jennicut]

28. Thanks. I am pretty down about the state of DU these days

there is a lot of hatred for each other and it is really getting to me lately.

[scheming daemons]

33. DU is being overrun by the most militant.... 95% of the country is NOT like DU

[scheming daemons]

31. Come on, Jennicut... that's nonsense

[Orsino]

35. He's not "done," but he will never recover whatever standing he had with GLBT-friendly Americans.

He will always be the President-Elect who chose to rub a gay-hater in our faces at his Inauguration, and to expect us to bow our heads respectfully.

I'm not interested in triangulation, "perspective," or justification, or in hearing how about how "smart" this choice really is. That won't take away the hurt.

[bunnies]

25. Not. Gonna. Happen.

But I'm guessing you know that already.

[Bucky]

27. No

You're not guessing. You're assuming.

[bunnies]

29. Either way. Its not gonna happen.

He wouldnt be defending his pick if here were even slightly entertaining the thought of changing it.

[Bucky]

30. Oh, I don't expect him to drop Warren. I oppose the choice, but I'm content to just protest it

It would be a disaster to un-invite Warren now. Much as I dislike him being the voice of prayer at this inauguration, I know Obama has to stick to his guns. We all have a role to play--mine is to dissent this terrible and hurtful choice. If I was female or gay, I might even consider letting the matter drop--I'm a remarkably flexible Democrat. But no one's trying to steal my right to control my own body or my right to have my life partnership recognized by law. No one's trying to fuck me up; I won't shut up about the civil rights and political dignity of people who are targets of discrimination.

[bunnies]

32. Gotcha.

And thanks for standing up. This bi female appreciates it! :hug:

[Hanse]

34. Before it's too late?

What's going to happen? Is God going to be displeased at the invocation and rain down fire and brimstone?

[Democrats_win]

36. False religion & bush joined at the hip. Where is the change Obama?

Warren should be giving the benediction at the White House before Bush and Obama leave for the inauguration. This would symbolize the end. Instead, false religion gets a new beginning?

It is essential that Obama find a way to get immoral false religion out of the inauguration. Yes we can?