Maybe It's Time to Give Obama a Break on Warren

Posted by Stephen Elliott, Huffington Post at 11:05 AM on December 23, 2008.

I shouldn't have to say this first, but I will, I'm not defending Rick Warren.

But if the worst thing that happens during the Obama presidency is that he lets a hate-mongering idiot speak at his inauguration I'll be ecstatic. Stop and think for a second. George Bush TOOK US TO WAR UNDER FALSE PRETENSES. He also APPOINTED people that don't believe in global warming to senior positions in the Environmental Protection Agency. He sanctioned torture. That's just the preamble to any rant about the disastrous last eight years.

George Bush gave away all our money to his rich friends. He betrayed New Orleans. He mandated abstinence only education.

So can we stop on the Rick Warren thing for a moment? Yeah, Rick Warren sucks, but we didn't complain when Obama participated in debate with John McCain hosted by Warren. Because we hadn't won yet we were willing to go inside their house; now we want to burn it down.

The reality is that, at some point, Obama's likely to do something much worse than invite Rick Warren to speak at his inauguration. At some point Obama is probably going to make a bad political appointment. Rick Warren is a symbol of something, and symbols matter, but they don't matter as much as policy or appointments. And let's not forget who we voted for. Obama has never been in favor of gay marriage, either.

To quote Andrew Sullivan: "I think Obama is different. I think the earnestness and sincerity of his campaign, and its generational force, have given us a chance for something new, and I fear that in responding too viscerally to the Warren choice, we may be throwing something very valuable away far too prematurely."

Something else to keep in mind is that the right wing nutcases are already on the attack with "The Obama Recession," and attempts to link Obama with the Nation of Islam. And we're not helping. Politically, inviting Rick Warren to speak at the inauguration is not a mountain, it's a molehill. There are much bigger fights on the horizon. We need to keep our powder dry.

- Stephen Elliott is the Editor of The Rumpus