Unify the country…except those folks who disagree
Barack Obama ran on the promise to reach across a divided country and try to heal it, listening to diverse voices along the way. That’s fine with his most liberal supporters, as long as it those voices agree with them.
But he’s talking to Pastor Rick Warren, and they are angry.
Obama was showered with objections from gay rights advocates upset by Warren’s support for a California ballot initiative banning same-sex marriage. Voters there approved it last month.
One activist group, People for the American Way, said the Saddle Back church leader and popular author doesn’t represent the values Barack Obama ran on during his successful White House bid.
“I’m sure that Warren’s supporters will portray his selection as an appeal to unity by a president who is committed to reaching across traditional divides, said the group’s president, Kathryn Kolbert.
Well, yes. Obama made that commitment, and now he’s trying to keep it. But he’s reached too far, say these folks.
Joe Solmonese, the head of gay rights group Human Rights Campaign, was harsher, writing in a letter to Obama that his invitation to Warren, “tarnished the view that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans have a place at your table..”
Wait….isn’t that supposed to be a table for dialogue on how to bring the country together? Or talk only with people who think alike?
Obama had a swift reply.
President-elect Barack Obama pushed back Thursday at the gay rights groups trashing him for inviting evangelical Rev. Rick Warren to give the invocation at his inauguration.
“It is no secret that I am a fierce advocate for equality for gay and lesbian Americans,” Obama told reporters in Chicago. But he noted that he ran a campaign promising to reach out to all sides.
“It is important for America to come together even though we may have disagreements on certain social issues,” he said, reminding that Warren invited him to speak at his church knowing Obama disagreed with many conservative religious stances.
“That dialogue, I think is part of what my campaign has been all about,” Obama added. “We’re not gonna agree on every single issue. What we have to do is be able to create an atmosphere where we can disagree with out being disagreeable.”
“That’s what America is about,” he continued. “Part of the magic of this country is that we are diverse and noisy and opinionated.”
Good description, sort of like some families around the Thanksgiving table. But at least they’re at the table.
