Personally, I’d have been happier had a picked a no-name God jockey from some no name church.  WTF does America need celebrity preachers?  Hell, I’d be happier still if they skipped the preachifyin’ altogether.

As for Warren, ennnnhh…  Better him than Robertson, I suppose.  (Robertson can choke to death on a flaming dick, for all I care.  Fucking shyster…)  My guess is that someone decided, perhaps because of the books and the Saddleback forum, that Warren is this year’s Biblestreet Boy, and they’re trying to make the Inauguration ever more larger than life than it normally is.

Where I’d have a really big problem is if Warren somehow thinks or starts acting as if he’s going to have some kind of influence with the administration or, even worse, is actually given some kind of influential audience by the administration.  Fuck. that. noise. with a side of BullShit, thank you very much.

I understand that our gay brothers and sisters are very, very unhappy with this shit, but I’m inclined to give the inauguration less meaning than some people.  I should say, the trappings of the inauguration - the fact that an African American will be taking the oath is pretty damned amazing. (I’d be just as pleasantly amazed if it were a woman, for the record.) 

I guess I’m less concerned with the supporting cast than I am with Obama taking the damned oath and doing something to bring us back from the brink of disaster.  I’m more concerned with his policies on gay/human rights than some chucklefuck spouting a silly prayer that no one will remember.

Well, here is what I am thinking:  We need a non-partisan group that puts our interests first, never mind the party or anyone else’s interest.  We need passion.  We need not-gonna-take-it-anymore-can-do-ism.  Most of all, we need a catchy acronym and logo.  I have it! GOOSE! Gays Outraged Over Straight Enablers. Catchy, innit? Oh yeah, feel the power, baby. ROAR, I mean HONK. 

Geese are the perfect symbol, because they travel in packs and mate for life (actually I don’t know for sure, but I’m too lazy to look it up:fact-checking is part of the Old Agenda), and they’re beautiful in flight, but they’re also mean as hell when you piss ‘em off.  You don’t fuck with geese, man.  You just don’t.

  We hiss!  We spit!  We waddle! We, ummm, shit all over everything!...

Oh and above all else, symbolism over policy, and we’ll cheerfully fuck over anyone who’s a rung below us on the ladder because they can get their own goddam interest group/acronym, that’s only fair.  Trans people, sex workers, immigrants, poor people.  Lesbians, really.  Anyone who doesn’t put GAY FIRST because it’s the ONLY THING THAT MATTERS.  Intersection?  What’s that?  HONK.

Oh wait, this is basically Human Rights Campaign, isn’t it.  Shit.

in fact, I was so inspired, I wrote an post about it:

http: slash slash fetchmemyaxe.blogspot.com/2008/12/new-gay-agenda.html

I’m sure total political domination can only be a small step behind, I’m so motivated.

...oh, I can’t post links?  trying with the code broken, sorry if self-plugging’s verboten.

More seriously:

http: slash slash etchmemyaxe.blogspot.com/2008/12/groan-ffs-obama.html

Short version: it wouldn’t probably sting quite so badly if it weren’t fresh on the heels of Prop 8, which people are already less than happy with Obama for not exactly going to the mat over, quiet lack of support for notwithstanding.  I’m not even talking about the fuckheads who’re -blaming- him for the -existence-/passage of Prop 8.  I’m just saying: it’s one more sign that, yeah, basically we’re on our own here, at least for 90% of the work.  Plus ca fucking change, well, enjoy your celebration, you know.  And yes, there’s other shit as well, but you know.  Fucking ow.  And yeah, we’re all waiting to see what happens with the actual policy.  I’m neither offering full condemnation nor absolution until we do.  I’m sure he’s just crying himself to sleep over it, you know…sigh.

anyway, I somehow really doubt that the Republicans in Congress are going to give all that much of a shit either way who did his invocation when it comes to his economic policies.  The ones whose real God is the “free market” (i.e. most of them when all’s said and done) are mostly going to be sticking to that; I don’t think Rick Warren really changes it one way or the other.

thank you!

I’m pretty far from pleased about Warren too but having some perspective is good. after all, on top of all the economy things our man’s planning to put through, he’s also planning to undo all the criminally stupid anti-choice and abstinence “education”. That’s going to leave a mark.

heh. they can have their preacher at the inauguration—all he’s going to do is say a short prayer not transform O into a bush clone.

he’s also planning to undo all the criminally stupid anti-choice and abstinence “education”.

Believe it when you see it.

I don’t know what’s wrong with me but I still can’t get OUTRAGED about this. I know part of it is because every time Obama has done something that his supporters (or potential supporters) HATE, he’s turned it around and left his opponents rubbing their asses.

And now it appears he’s got the TalEvan in his sights…

Plus, George Fucking Bush is still in the White House and I can’t get properly pissed about anything else until that fucker is gone.

Did you see he left us that Religious Tolerance law as a parting gift? But everyone’s screaming about some dumb shit preacher talking for three minutes.

Here’s why my knickers are still in such a monumental twist: Obama didn’t have to do this. I understand pragmatism and reaching across the aisle. I know there’s a difference between real policy and symbolic gestures of inclusion.

This is 100% symbolism, and in my opinion, the symbolism sucks. Warren isn’t just some generic bible-humper: He played a key role in passing Prop 8. Within the past month, he was on TV comparing gay marriage with incest and pedophilia, telling Sean Hannity that God uses governments to punish evil-doers, so it’s okay for Hannity to inflame his audience with foreign leader assassination fantasies. Warren also compared pro-choicers to Nazis. He’s an over-stuffed bag of dicks by any progressive measure—Jerry Falwell in a Hawaiian shirt, as someone on Maddow rightly called him last night.

I know you know all of this, and I understand the need for perspective. I still support Obama, of course, and will rejoice to see the end of the Bush regime in less than a month, hallelujah-amen.

But for me, the joy and relief brought about by the impending departure of Bush and the ushering in of what I still believe will be an administration with a distinctly progressive flavor was already tempered with sadness about the step backwards we took with the passage of Prop 8 and anti-gay amendments in FL and AZ.

And now Obama has chosen to open this new era by elevating the stature of one of the chief purveyors of the intolerance that is holding us back. And for what? I don’t believe for a second that any of the knuckle-draggers who nod their heads when Warren spews his bigoted sanctimony will be won over by Warren’s inclusion in the inauguration ceremony. As Berube noted yesterday, they will go to their graves cursing the scary Mooslim-Marxist-furriner-black-dude who wants to be their president too.

There are perhaps center right folks who can be peeled off, and we need them to move forward. I’m down with that. I just don’t see how appealing to the followers of that self-important goateed gasbag accomplishes it. But what it does accomplish is to significantly diminish the enthusiasm of many people like me who worked our asses off to get Obama elected. I hope the trade-off is worth it. Sincerely, I do. But I don’t think it is.

I would also point out that the last word at the Inauguration goes to Rev. Joseph Lowery.

If you’ve never seen it, watch this video of him at Coretta Scott King’s funeral, where he talks about the war and no WMDs with Bush sitting right behind him :-)

Marin’s definitely made some good points and terry brings up something not enough of people are noting. While Billy Graham tends to keep his social issues cards a lot closer to his chest that Warren, they’re both pretty much in agreement on them. As I recall, Bill Clinton had Graham do the invocation and the benediction at his inauguration.

And belledame, glad to have you on board. Really like your blog.  Adding you to the ‘roll. Yep, the sting is extra sharp after Prop 8.  I don’t think this would have been as big of a deal w/out it.

Thanks, Terry. Lowery is a true hero, and I’m sorry his inclusion in the event is being overshadowed by the role of Warren, who is as to Lowery as a worm is to an eagle.

“He’s an over-stuffed bag of dicks…”

Ms Cracker, with great lines like this you really should have a book out. Either that or get with animation wizard Bill Plympton and do it up.

Bottom line - I too wish he had not made this particular decision and, yes, specifically on the heels of Prop 8.  But I do think it is at least being balanced off by Dr. Lowery and others. Maybe, with this kind of backlash, Warren will shortly come down with a bad case of “laryngitis” or something and gracefully back out.  Can only hope.  I mean, I hear the nutters are pissed off about it too!  Fail/fail Barack.

You know, ever since John Edwards dropped out way back in February, I’ve just kind of been sitting back and watching Obama.  I wasn’t all that impressed with him a year ago, and I really couldn’t see what everybody was so jazzed about.  I was jazzed about Edwards—somebody who was openly and unashamedly running on a platform of social and economic justice.  But Obama?  Eh, he was all right.  better than Clinton, but not great.
It was actually kind of interseting watching the primaries play out, as I really was pretty much just watching it objectively, not feeling like I had much at stake in it.  As they wore on, I became more and more an Obama backer, but more than that, I just didn’t want Clinton to win.
When the general election rolled around, I was behind Obama utterly.  I voted for him and I even did some work for him.  But I’ never have been really all that taken with him.
He’s really good at running a campaign, I’ll give him that.  I don’t know if he really made any mistakes that hurt him for more than a few days at a time.  And he’s the best I’ve ever seen at not getting thrown off his stride.
But in the end, he strikes me as an administrator.  A good speaker, and good at rallying people, but ultimately, an administrator.  I wanted a leader—that’s why I was behind Edwards.  I saw in him somebody who could get us to go a little further as a society than we’d otherwise have been inclined to do.  He was—and it’s what drew me to him, too—a little reckless.  He knew he had nothing to lose so he tried to get us to help him do what he thought the country needed.
With Obama, I get the feeling that he likes playing it safe.  He doesn’t like to take chances—at least in policy, he ran a great campaign, and took some chances in running in states where Democrats haven’t had much luck in a long time, and it paid off.
But as a president, I don’t think he’ll do much to rock the boat, even at a time when we need some serious boatrocking.
So I’m still just kind of watching him, not feeling too awfully invested in him personally.  But the great thing about that is that I don’t get all wrought up when he pulls a move like having Warren speak.  I think it’s a bad move, though I can understand why he’s doing it.  But I don’t feel personally let down the way I would have if it had been Edwards doing something like that.
In a way, it’s freeing not to feel personally bound up with the new president.

Thanks, marindenver.

I’m asking that everyone who attends the inaugural, gay or straight, who disagrees with the Warren selection hold aloft a rainbow flag while he speaks.  That will be seen from the dais and more importantly, by the TV cameras.

I blogged about this idea at Daily Kos.

Hey, thanks, Kevin.

Yeah, I’m mostly with Betty, although I also agree with this:

Plus, George Fucking Bush is still in the White House and I can’t get properly pissed about anything else until that fucker is gone.

All the shoes in the WORLD aren’t enough.  I mean…*gah*.  Yeah. 

Lowery is great, yes. 

I suppose…I expect -possibly- the Warren invite pre-dated the Prop 8 crap, certainly the outcome; you need long lead times to book that sort of thing, even if you don’t know you’re actually going to -have- one…no, actually I have no fucking idea.  Mainly I don’t think they gave it much thought, just how hard Teh Gay would take it and why, and that’s the problem. 

And while I certainly don’t expect him to uninvite Warren at this point—you can’t—the stern lecturey crap from Obama about “agreeing to disagree civilly” chaps my ass as well.  You know what: civil rights aren’t something we can agree to disagree over respectfully when some of us enjoy said rights and others don’t; when some of us are actively preventing others from engaging in those rights.  Yeah, no one’s literally calling for Warren’s head here, but it’s not a -polite- conversation.  Which, yeah, he damn well ought to understand.  The “tone” thing?  Oh no you don’t.  Really, just…don’t go there.  I can only deal with so much irony before overload.

Anyway, there’s a petition from People For The American Way registering dismay, if you sign such things:

Agreed that Obama is not fundamentally a boat rocker, and that anyone who expects him to are going to be sorely disappointed.  Mostly I think at best we’re hoping he can just keep the whole damn thing from sinking, and not just rearrange the deck chairs. 

Edwards—eh.  I was originally leaning toward him -slightly- more, policy-wise, but by the time the primaries rolled around to my state he wasn’t an option.  And you know, I don’t think he’s much of a boat rocker either; none of them are, or they would never have gotten that far in the first place.  Obama I think is -possibly- more likely to have more long-reaching/-ideas-, but he’s definitely not one for open confrontation, as we’ve seen; the pragmatism and the politicking seem to win out over the idealism by far.  ‘Tis what ‘tis. 

As for leading—my very cynical take was: this is gonna be particularly brutal for whoever it is from opening gate at the primaries all the way to the very last day in office and while being a good campaigner is not sufficient to be a good leader, it’s really gonna be necessary to deal with every bit of bullshit they can throw.  I went for Obama over Hillary precisely because he seemed to be better at Tefloning it and that that was why (imo) he was winning.  Edwards?  I think he got steamrolled.  I think, he had his chance to show how he might lead—twice, really, once   where he really didn’t impress me at all—and he blew it.  ‘K, bye then.  I would’ve said the same for any of them, and did.

And thank fuck, because with the dreary adultery scandal later on in the campaign season, we all would’ve been screwed if he were the candidate at that point.

...but I agree, you’re right, I never did get that -personally- invested in Obama, and I suspect it’s largely for that reason that I’m not as het up over this as I might be.  Or at least I’m not y’know shocked, shocked.  I’ve already been less than enthused about several of his Cabinet appointees, there were a number of things during primary season that similarly turned me off (for the same reason as here in at least one case), and yeah, Favreau, not wild about that business either.  I fully expect plenty more disappointment before it’s over.

But yeah, not feeling like he personally let me down as some kind of hero or anything; as with just about every other politician, I am assuming “ratfucker” until proven otherwise, and I will settle for “the ratfucker who’s slightly less of a ratfucker than the other ratfuckers and also on my side, more or less.”

which is why I avoided most of the stirring hope and change rallies, though I admire them in theory, I do think at some level he does mean it, actually (people are complicated) and I think that the spirit it evokes in people is much healthier than the ugly shit whipped up by the only “exciting” candidates the R’s have to offer.  Whether the actual promises are all made concrete or not, “hope” beats “cheated entitlement/rage” any day.  It’s far too easy to just get stuck in the latter, for all of us, really.

Just hope the backlash from the people who took it all literally won’t knock the whole thing over.