I can only speculate that Obama is doing this for political reasons, perhaps to gain some support from the right for policies he wants to implement. Personally, I don’t trust those guys at all.

- Tom

It’s change I can’t believe.

George Stephanopoulos on ABC talking about the diversity in Obama’s Cabinet. I guess diversity means no progressives.

That may be true, but does Obama think he can get re-elected without the left? Just curious…

The other thing I wonder about is how much of this crap the left will put up with before we look elsewhere for leadership?

I’m really pissed about this. I’ve been holding back to see how it was going to play out, however this crosses a line.

There is a simpler explanation. He’s doing it because he wants to. This is after all his signature event.

This bi-partisan crap of Obama’s is making me squirm. It’s creepy, and nothing good is going to come of it. There is no way the wingnuts are going to layoff once he takes office. They will tkae the olive branch and crumple it up in their dirty, greedy, hate filled fingers. Maybe Rick Warren will [Mod: no.]

Why doesn’t the Obama team just dig up Jerry Falwell and prop him up on the podium. What a magnificent signal to the right wing aholes that they have nothing to fear from Obama. The more things change the more they stay the same.

It’s a signal that won’t work. They only marginally voted more for Obama than Kerry. I don’t know why you’d throw them a bone of any size.

Personally I’m losing all trust of Obama. His appointments to the Dept. of Agribusiness and the Dept. of Interior to be exploited are more than problematic.

It’s change I can’t see.

Obama’s moves are a strong indication that he will not be a transformational President ala FDR but rather a transitional President. The question is what comes after the transition. Fascism or Revolution.?

Oops, looks like I got too carried away there, sorry folks!

Of all the things Obama has done (or not done) this is the first – beyond his FISA vote – that really pisses me off, and boy does it ever.

WTF is he thinking? People like Warren will never accept either him or progressives or anybody who isn’t totally anti-choice and anti-gay. Forget them. Obama may think this is being inclusive but it really is a poke in the eye to his most ardent supporters.

But, then again, Obama has always had sort of a blind spot when it comes to preachers. Why he falls for their crap is beyond me.

Sure is stacking up that way, isn’t it? :-((( All my campaign donations went to down-ticket progressives…..and that’s startin’ to look like an increasingly wise decision. Blows my mind that I received an honest-to-dog hand-written thank-you note from Larry Kissell.

Obama actually thinks through the force of his personal magniticism that he is going to bring the flat earthers and the Republican fascists on board. He is in for a very big wake up call.

This bi-partisan crap of Obama’s is making me squirm. It’s creepy, and nothing good is going to come of it

Well we have already seen how well that worked with Corker, Shelby, and McConnell on the auto bailout.

I thought that “don’t ask” bs that the Clintons advocated is a lot more insulting than the LA preacher.

This sucks.

I am so not going to his stupid Inaugural. Any gay or fair-minded non-gay people who go are suckers.

I’m beginning to believe that Obama’s real intent is not to bring the right wingers on board to his agenda but rather to bring liberals and progressives onto the agenda of the corporatists and the flat earthers. That may be the change he can believe in.

http://oxdown.firedoglake.com/…..ment-17813

here are email addys that teddy has been giving out from boxturtle.

and here is what i have been posting. after the next paragraph.
write some letters. this is beyond disgusting, i really can’t believe it. This is the man Obama wants as a part of his Inaugural? Out of all of the people he could select? I truly don’t get it.

here is the contact page to send a letter to tell them to change their plans to have Pastor Warren anywhere near this Inaugural.
http://change.gov/page/content/contact/

my letter could have been better, I hate those little boxes, but didn’t go to a text page. oh well. at least I wrote one.
I hope many many pups send one off immediately. Let’s get the outrage we feel about this across to them.

Dear President-Elect Obama;

Whomever made the decision for Pastor Rick Warren to deliver the Benediction at your Inaugural, and whomever suggested it, should be fired. Reverend Warren most certainly does not qualify as someone who exemplifies the teachings of Jesus and the actions of a man of God.

I can name at least 10 ordained women and men who espouse a level of excellence who should have been given the honor of delivering the Benediction on the historic day of your Inauguration. A myriad of choices, yet you chose the most offensive one besides James Dobson. And the one out of San Antonio, Hagee.

Surprisingly, I would rather hear the pastor at The Wasilla Bible Church; I listened to his sermon last Sunday after the fire and it is exactly what people should be hearing every Sunday. Unconditional Love. That is what he preached after having his church destroyed. You should listen to that sermon. I even wrote to him to compliment him.

Pastor Rick is not someone I would look to for insight or leadership, after seeing and hearing him telling others that love is conditional, who creates division and calls it being a leader. He is an appalling human being for the hate he creates and then hiding behind his other ‘works’ to ‘call it even’. That is not the conduct of a man of God, at least that is not what I was taught, especially coming from a preacher. i’ve noticed that he sounds great in interviews, but take a look at what he says in public, what he is really saying in front of his congregation, and news outlets. It is atrocious that he gets away with it.

Whom should you have asked instead, if you wanted a fundamentalist? Joyce Meyer. At least in the middle of her interpretations of the Bible she is also teaching people tolerance, and how to be fine human beings. To be responsible for what you create in others by being tolerant and loving to all, no matter your creed or religion. Or lifestyle.

I am dismayed that you would give such an honor to such a despicable person.

I spent countless hours working during your campaign, and I have to say, I wish I could take those hours back. I cannot believe you would do such a thing, yet you did. I truly don’t understand how this has happened.

Out of all of the people from which you had to choose, you chose the one who is the wolf in sheep’s clothing. I don’t think you realize how offended people are by this choice. If you think more will be offended if you change it, you are wrong.

I hope you change your decision about this.

Sincerely,

Methodist, and heterosexual, in case you wondered.

I don’t feel quite so angry after just reading htis at Salon:

…the decision to get involved with Saddleback was actually not Obama’s. The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, run by the House and Senate, put together the program for the swearing-in ceremony. Congress, not Obama, invited Warren.

I officially withdraw my outrage.

All I can say is WTF?????????

I’ll be outraged at Congress then……..

but you can bet they ran it by him for approval.

If you think Obama didn’t agree with them.. I’ve got some land in Florida with your name on it…. real cheap.

That was brought up in an earlier thread. It is kabuki. Congress did not do this without close consultation and approval by Obama and Obama’s people.

and a ‘milk cow’

This is embarrassing. I would not have imagined pandering to cretins as a mandate from the people.

That is a classic CYA statement via Salon. Per my comments in a previous thread, if you think obama did not sign off on this decision, please to remember the Rev. wright fiasco. There is NO WAY obama was unaware to whom this invitation was going to be extended.

To say that my expectations for the next administration are low
would be a misunderstatement.

I vote for revolution, but everybody already knows that.

i also wrote a letter to rachel in the hopes that she is going to comment on this….and sent teddy’s boxturtle email addys and the change.gov one, in case anyone there wants to send a note or two.
i really hope everyone is off sending letters. this is so disgusting. it’s like dropping the drawbridge to the huns.

this is a good one to ’spotlight’, plenty of posts to choose from.

I’m with you Teddy, 20 years ago I had a “Straight But Not Narrow” pin on my backpack. This Warren thing frosts me no end. I won’t have anything to do with Obama, his right wing cabinet, or his d*mn inauguration.

No.

Senator Feinstein’s office told me, authoritatively, that this decision was neither hers nor the JCCIC’s. It was the decision of the Obama Presidential Inaugural Committee.

Damn, I was tryin’ to sell that same plot. Guess I’ll hafta go find another.

I traded the cow for some magic beans.

I added my 2 cents at change.gov but I wasn’t nearly as nice as you were.

start climbin’–let’s go get that giant!

i was trying to write it in the vein of someone who knew the nuances of faith at one time, and the societal cohesion in our country that is lacking right now because of hate speak from so-called ‘christian’ people and their leaders. to elevate them is against everything obama says he believes. that’s what makes it so disgusting, and makes obama a big fat hypocrite.

Hang on a sec, I gotta get my tomahawk.

I’m becoming more discouraged with each appointment. I’m sorry but I don’t think hiring the people who drove the train into the ditch is the right way to get the train out of the ditch and back on track.

no, you can both sell it, just like Madder did.(is that his name? the ‘he’s so honest we don’t have to watch him’ ponzi scheme guy?)

I’ve got my walking stick, from ‘dungeon’. it’ll do.

Madoff, pronounced made off. How ironic. Whoever said rich people were smart by virtue of being rich didn’t know what they were talking about.

i’ve been a little, um, dismayed i guess is the word, over a few of the announcements.

but beyond that, choosing warren kinda set a tone that is going to reverberate like a cracked bell. say goodbye to lady liberty, no more bell ringing. it is sooooooo wrong, for countless reasons.

like i said earlier, a few of the things he is doing is like dropping the drawbridge to the huns. i don’t get it.

there is a arcade fire song that has a line in it that fits–
“how come nothing tastes good”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oljrHaEroa4
rock out, i’m gonna play it forty times. loud cuz that’s where we are now.

like i said earlier, a few of the things he is doing is like dropping the drawbridge to the huns. i don’t get it.

I look at it that he is doing precisely what he wants to and then work backwards to what it says about Obama’s views. My take is that Obama is extremely Establishment, very DINO, very DLC. When he talks about inclusion, he’s talking about the Establishment elites, not ordinary Americans. He can give a good speech, even sound progressive in it, but he hasn’t taken a single progressive stand on anything that I can tell.

From day 1 I’ve said my main objection to both Obama and Clinton was the fact that they’re both dyed in the wool corporatists. It’s nice to be validated every once in a while.

i kept thinking, ok, he’s gathering ’round a wide variety of people, saying, tell me what you think, so he can say he did, and then would say, here’s what we’re doing. do it. just like moms and dads do when they have ‘family meetings’

after the warren thing, i don’t think that anymore.

i just realized who is giving the benediction, that may explain it, warren is there to balance out reverend joseph lowery. lowery is the one who threw reality at bush at coretta king’s funeral. and got a standing ovation when he did it. hmmmmm.

I’d like to think the incoming admin. is giving Rick Warren the rope needed to hang himself.

Figuratively speaking, of course…

blue texan and pups–it occurred to me why obama invited warren.

Reverend Joseph Lowery. it’s gonna be a slam dance. i wrote a diary about it.
http://oxdown.firedoglake.com/diary/2512