Freedom Rider: Rick Warren and Barack Obama

by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley

"Obama's increasingly rightward shift became more obvious every day."

The overly hyped and endlessly sensationalized inauguration of Barack Obama will soon be upon us. From Election Day onward, Obama's increasingly rightward shift became more obvious every day. The presence of a Bush holdover at the Department of Defense, a chief of staff dedicated to crushing progressives in Congress, and economic advisers who deregulated the world financial system into ruin prove that joy is unwarranted.

Still it was surprising when the transition team announced that Rev. Rick Warren was invited to give the inaugural invocation. Warren exemplifies the modern evangelical preacher/businessman, pastoring a "mega" church while also writing best selling books and influencing politicians and policies. Warren's most recent public action was to provide very vigorous support for Proposition 8, the California initiative which banned gay marriage.

Gay activists who supported Obama were quite rightly outraged by the Warren choice. The Obama camp responded with characteristic annoyance at the unwashed masses who won't get with the program and just shut up. They defended the decision by pointing out that a gay marching band would appear in the inaugural parade. The marching band honor was actually supposed to lessen the sting of the Warren slap in the face.

"Warren's most recent public action was to provide very vigorous support for Proposition 8."

Warren will throw the occasional bone to talk about poverty, environmental issues or care for HIV patients, but he is firmly on the conservative side of the political spectrum. On Fox news, Warren agreed with Sean Hannity that Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmedinajad should be "taken out." A religious leader who advocates for warfare or assassination is an odd choice for a president who promises to bring about change and a tone of civility.

Obama has been courting Warren and other conservative evangelicals for some time. In June of 2006 Obama gave a speech that purported to show Democrats how to reach out to religious voters. At that time he had not yet officially declared himself a presidential candidate, but he very clearly showed his strategic hand and his political plans. He smeared religious progressives by saying that they didn't even exist and he smeared all progressives by claiming that they were hostile to religion. The much talked about speech consisted of one right wing talking point after another.

The Warren invitation is vintage Obama. Like Bush, Obama believes that he is the decider and that opinions differing from his own are to be ignored. Unlike Bush, he is savvy enough to pretend otherwise, and his smooth talking feel goodism fools many into maintaining a vow of silence about anything he does. The Warren invitation is yet another instance of the patronizing Obama telling the left that they shouldn't worry their pretty little heads about anything that he decides is inconsequential.

"Rev. Wright gets the shaft and the odious Warren gets the red carpet."

Rick Warren also fits Obama's beloved corporate model of governance just perfectly. Obama does not believe in or want to see citizens take action in order to bring about meaningful change. In his 2006 come-to-Jesus speech he said as much. "I believe in vigorous enforcement of our non-discrimination laws. But I also believe that a transformation of conscience and a genuine commitment to diversity on the part of the nation's CEOs could bring about quicker results than a battalion of lawyers. They have more lawyers than us anyway." The last sentence was probably meant to draw a laugh from the audience, but many a truth is told in jest.

The nation's CEOs did nothing to end the injustices of the Jim Crow era. They did nothing to change laws ending discrimination based on race or gender. They did nothing to give full voting rights to all Americans. They are the group most likely to destroy citizenship rights for individuals while asserting them for themselves.

When Barack Obama announced his presidential campaign in 2007 he disinvited his then pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright. In 2008 he even gave up his membership in Wright's church. Wright hasn't called for any foreign leaders to die and he doesn't support depriving anyone of their legal rights. Yet Wright's uncompromising and truthful words about racism and American history made him unacceptable. Wright gets the shaft and the odious Warren gets the red carpet.

"This offense is an opportunity for someone to publicly take Obama to task."

On January 20, 2009, Warren will undoubtedly not repeat his assertion that gay marriage is akin to pedophilia. His church does not allow gay people to become members, but that information has been scrubbed from his website. Warren knows the public relations drill and he will reign in his most offensive statements. The more important issue is what gay activists and other progressives will do.

Rick Warren actively and very publicly works against their interests. It is absurd and insulting for them to have a group hug with someone who wants them silenced and defeated. This offense is an opportunity for someone to publicly take Obama to task and call him on the carpet for his cynicism. If that were to happen, the inauguration would be worth talking about after all.

Margaret Kimberley's Freedom Rider column appears weekly in BAR. Ms. Kimberley lives in New York City, and can be reached via e-Mail at Margaret.Kimberley(at)BlackAgandaReport.Com. Ms. Kimberley maintains an edifying and frequently updated blog at freedomrider.blogspot.com.

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