I am very disappointed myself, but I am not ready to write him off just yet. Had this been a policy decision I would not have been surprised. After all, Obama ran opposed to gay marriage.
Instead, and most perplexing, Obama chose to do this -- offend gay voters -- over a strictly symbolic matter and sometimes symbols can be exceedingly important. This is one of those times. The man was elected because enough voters were swayed by his argument that the time for divisiveness was over. The very survival of the nation being at stake -- so we had to set aside things like the culture wars and deal with the fundamentals of national security, economics and environment. I totally agree with that premise.
However, elevating a hatemonger to deliver a prayer on the stage at the nation's big day is a symbol of exactly the opposite: that we're not ready to set aside those culture wars. Just as I would not have expected Obama to select Gene Robinson (openly gay bishop of the Episcopal Church Diocese of New Hampshire) to deliver this prayer, so I would have assumed his choice would have been any number of clergy who have a far less public profile of controversy.
Frankly, it is just good politics to not ruffle feathers when it ain't necessary. For a campaign that ran so smoothly, now that we're in the transition stage it is surprising to see such a huge stumble so early in the process. I hope the pressure will continue to mount and the invitation will be somehow rescinded. Or, at the very least, I hope this will force our new President to throw a major bone our way and very soon as a way of making up for his blunder.
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