Obama Spokesman on Meet the Press Dec 28

On Meet The Press today (Dec 28) David Gregory asked Obama's Senior Adviser, David Axelrod, about Rick Warren reading the inaugural invocation -mentioning that Warren equates being gay to Pedophilia and incest. (Gregory seemed to bumble the question quoting "Rick Warren did liken Gay Marriage to a brother and sister marrying or to an older guy marrying a daughter." He also cites Frank Rich in todays NY-Times, You’re Likable Enough, Gay People)

Axelrod says that Warren and Obama have agreed on things like fighting "the terrible disease that crosses Africa," While disagreeing on gay rights and a woman's right to abortion. He did not mention if they agree or disagree about a woman's role in the household and in marriage. "The important point" Axelrod emphasizes, is that "a conservative evangelical pastor is coming to participate in the inauguration of a progressive president." And he suggests we stop "shaking our fists at each other."

The reaction from Obama is clear even if Obama disagrees strongly with "some" of Warren's positions, it is still in the interest of harmony that he extends a welcoming had to Warren. "Obama is exactly who he has always been." is how Axelrod describes it.

There you have it, Obama's answer. It is in the interest of the Obama to embrace bigots who spread nasty, disgusting and malicious lies about gay people. These are the types of people that team Obama need to impress and welcome and embrace.

Frank Rich writes: "But there’s a difference between including Warren among the cacophony of voices weighing in on policy and anointing him as the inaugural’s de facto pope." On fighting to abolish AIDS in Africa, "Shouldn’t that be the default position of any religious leader? Fighting AIDS is not a get-out-of-homophobia-free card." He compares it to Bush joining Bono to fight AIDS in Africa and then gay-baiting in the 2004 campaign and his silence while govener during the beginnings of the epidemic.

Still, Rich doesn't seem to think Obama is so much a homophobe (who does) as misguided and full of himself. I can agree with that. While Rich calles Warren's Pedophilia remark "unacceptable," he state's that it's "bizarre that Obama, of all people, would allow himself to be on the wrong side of this history" and cautions us thru Timothy McCarthy, of Obama's National LGBT Council, to choose our fights more wisely and focus on policy issues. Ah, policy issues? Future policy issues? Isn't that just another area where we are likely to not even be met with a symbolic nod, but probably be ignored in favor of "reaching out" to bigots, anyway. I'm a little sick of giving politicians a free ride because some day they may actually come around and do the right thing and write policy to protect minorities.

.....

Many news sources were quick to report on Axelrod's statements today, focusing on his excuse that Obama is trying to unite America with his choice of Warren but barely mentioning that LGBT people are upset about Warren having likened gay marriage to legitimizing incest, child abuse and polygamy

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Submitted by

Nukely (3428 points) (1195 posts)

on Sun, 2008-12-28 17:57.

TAGS ::

Politics

whatever...

Submitted by

Liz (10696 points) (2217 posts)

on Sun, 2008-12-28 22:08.

If obama wants to extend a big ol' hug to everyone, then he should invite a kkk member, a neo-nazi...obama should go on tv and urge bin laden to come out of hiding and join him at the inauguration....maybe let a few rapists and murderers out of jail for a day....

i'm trying to figure out if i am being too sensitive about all this or if Obama really seems like a dumbass in all this....

as i mentioned somewhere else, not even my mom gets why this is such a big deal and when i tried to explain, she simply said rick warren has every right to have an opinion of something and we can't be mad at obama for that. sad.

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It's "policy issues" we're concerned about

Submitted by

Psionycx (8606 points) (1744 posts)

on Sun, 2008-12-28 22:11.

We need to make sure that it is said loudly and often that Obama has yet to prove that he is a "fierce advocate for equality" of gays and lesbians.

Because he has yet to do so.

We knew, going into the election, that he was not the most gay-friendly of the Democratic candidates that had run in the primaries (and neither was Hillary, so no point in whining there). In fact, Obama's main claim to fame is voting against the Federal Marriage Amendment, which a lot of other senators also did and so it's not a big kudo winner really.

What we are still failing to communicate in all of this furor is that Obama has yet to actual produce any real "policy" for the benefit of the LGBT community. He has a very lovely web page that makes a lot of nice promises. However, those are all hypothetical "policy issues" that remain firmly in a nebulous future realm.

In the here and now, we know that Obama didn't care enough about us as a community to give us even one Cabinet seat, when he made sure to throw appeasement appointments at others. Indeed, I haven't seen any LGBT people other than Sutely getting any "senior" posts in his administration (and her's is a joke position that has no real power). Thus it's starting to look like we aren't very welcome in the Obama White House.

Therefore, it should come as no surprise that we're a little upset that Rick Warren is. After all, he was not an Obama supporter during the election and it's highly unlikely that his flock of fans were either. But he packs a lot of PR presence on the Right and so the message is that Obama cares more about them than he does about us - his own party's supporters.

So before Obama's people start mouthing off about "policy" they really ought to get some policy to justify their argument. There's a credibility gap here that Obama has yet to address. Someone needs to shove that fact in Axelrod's face on TV.

Since Obama seems to insist on trying to put on Lincoln's top hat, he ought to be reminded that Lincoln had to piss off half the nation in order to push through his "policy issue" (abolition). There was no "agreeing to disagree" with the slave states over the keeping of people (notably black people) as chattel. Now that the election is over it's time for Obama to start deciding whether he actually stands for "equality" in a measurable way, or if he's all about appeasing the Right.

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My dogs are killing me

Submitted by

Nukely (3428 points) (1195 posts)

on Sat, 2009-01-03 02:36.

I have been watching the conversation on this topic in the press go back and forth almost daily and I am coming to conclude that the GLBT community loses either way. However we stand on the issue. When we voice opposition we are accused of being obstructive. Meanwhile, the right drags out the same tired arsenal of lies, that our love is unnatural and somehow unfit before our creator. So if we accept them and their hatred, we are like those who sit back and allow a fanatical terrorist to have his way.

There is little honest discussion on the topic. The right are basking in their group think while many on the left cower. The truth be told, Obama can do no wrong in the eyes of the left, much like Bush was the darling of the right. And like Bush, Obama doesn't need to win the left over. So he can overpass gays because the vast majority on the left stand with him and will continue to do so no matter what he does for the GLBT community or more likely doesn't do.

For all the fuss and flapping, difficult moments like these do not test the allegiance of individuals in the party but seem to affirm it. Last eight years, if you opposed the war you were labeled anti-American. Now, if you oppose Obama or his decisions, you might risk being accused of ruining the party, or worse going against the very natural force that hope seems to evince.

And if we are the not so subtle reminder that for hope to have any meaning it must be available to everyone, then we will be damned for that so that hope can remain strong for a few even while justice glowers like a silent and horrified grandmother observing her wayward children from her roost.

Brace yourself for four years of endless pontificating on the Obama's process, superior intellect and foresight as he wins over one right wing nut after another. It is just another spin on what has always been.

We're left standing at the bus stop. And we have paid our fair how many times? A seat, even in the back of the bus, would be nice.

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