Rick Warren is an insulting choice

[DeepModem Mom]

LAT op-ed: Rick Warren is an insulting choice
Preacher Rick Warren's views are simply too extreme for Obama's supporters.
By Katha Pollitt
December 22, 2008

....Only Democrats, it seems, reward their most loyal supporters -- feminists, gays, liberals, opponents of the war, members of the reality-based community -- by elbowing them aside to embrace their opponents instead.

Most Americans who've heard of Warren know him as the teddy-bearish, Hawaiian-shirted head of the Saddleback megachurch in Orange County and the author of "The Purpose Driven Life." Perhaps they also know he's the rare right-wing Christian pastor who sometimes talks about poverty and global warming and HIV. His concern for those issues has given him a reputation as a moderate and has made him the darling of Democratic Party think tanks, ever hoping to break the Republican lock on the white evangelical vote.

But on the signal issues of the religious right he is, as he himself has said, as orthodox as James Dobson. And as inflammatory. Warren doesn't just oppose gay marriage, he's compared it to incest and pedophilia. He doesn't just want to ban abortion, he's compared women who terminate pregnancies to Nazis and the pro-choice position to Holocaust denial. (Hmmm ... If a fertilized egg is as precious as a born Jewish human being, does that mean a born Jewish human being is only as valuable as a fertilized egg?)

Speaking of Jews, Warren has publicly stated his belief that they will burn in hell, presumably along with everyone else who hasn't accepted his particular brand of Christianity (i.e., the vast majority of people in the world). And forget about evolution -- the existence of homosexuals, he's argued, disproves Darwin. And while we may not know how old the Earth is, the Saddleback website assures us that dinosaurs and humans coexisted.

Or take marriage. At his Saddleback Church, wifely submission is official doctrine: The church website tells women to defer to their husband's "leadership" even when he's wrong on important issues, such as finances. Never mind if she's an accountant and he flunked long division, or if she wants to beef up the kids' college fund and he wants to buy shares in the Brooklyn Bridge. The godly answer is supposed to be "yes, dear." Is elevating this male chauvinist how President-elect Obama thanks women, who gave him more than half his votes?...

***

In a news conference Thursday, Obama defended the choice of Warren: "It is important for the country to come together even though we may have disagreements on certain social issues." That's all very well, but excuse me if I don't feel all warm and fuzzy. Obama won thanks to the strenuous efforts of people who've spent the last eight years appalled by the Bush administration's wars and violations of human rights, its attacks on gays and women, its denigration of science, its general pandering to bigotry and ignorance in the name of God.

I'm all for building bridges, but honoring Warren, who insults Obama's base as perverts and murderers, is definitely a bridge too far.

(Katha Pollitt, a poet, essayist and critic, writes the "Subject to Debate" column in the Nation.)

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-pollitt22-2008dec22,0,4243781.story

[polichick]

1. Well said - k&r

[glitch]

2. There are mistakes, and there are mistakes that cause you to question basic judgment. K & R nt

[Warpy]

3. Pollitt certainly has that man's number

and with the hundreds of postings on this forum by angry GLBT posters, his vicious war against women has gone largely unnoticed.

Simply put, he was a bad choice to fill a job that shouldn't be there in the first place.

The presence of any god botherer at an official state function is uncomfortably close to establishment and should be abolished.

[gaspee]

4. There are mistakes...

And there are actions that lead one to believe someone wasn't being exactly truthful with the people who voted for him.

Insult doesn't cover this by half.

After McClurkin and other tone-deaf actions on Obama's part during the campaign, I vowed I wasn't going to vote for him - that I would sit out the big P vote and vote in my local races.

I wavered and actually cast my vote for him. I figured, hell, in the past I voted for people just as bad. But it wasn't like he needed my vote to win. I live in Rhode Island. But I dutifully did my civic duty and cast my vote, rather than sit it out.

Now I feel like a fool.

I am a woman. I am a radical feminist. I am an atheist. I am a butch dyke. Like it or not (he obviously doesn't like it) I am Obama's base.

White evangelicals did not vote in the majority to elect Mr Obama president. Women did. Gays did. I would think atheists did.

Yet he's kicking us in the teeth by bestowing this great honor on Mr Warren.

Mr Warren is a charlatan. A snake-oil salesmen. A fakir who takes advantage of people to line his pockets - read the question on his website about tithing or paying off debt - you will learn all you need to know about Mr Warren - yet his views should be given the prominence at the inauguration when he surely did not support PE Obama? We should reach out a hand to him? We, Obama's supporters, should turn a blind eye to what Warren wishes for us?

What happened to Clinton when he compromised with these people? They hounded him for eight years, that's what happened. They did not budge an inch. They pulled us, yelling and screaming to the right as hard as they could. They do not compromise. They do not think there is anything to compromise about. They are right and we are wrong. They are righteous and we are sinners. They are saved and we are damned.

These people are convinced that they have all the right answers and the rest of us are going to burn in hell for all eternity. They cannot compromise. Their entire self-image and world view relies on believing that they are the righteous.

I don't know why I expected different from Obama. My first inclination was right - Obama's just another politician. But I let his stupid sloganeering persuade me. I've always prided myself on resisting advertising. On being able to see below the surface and not be taken in by pretty words or peer pressure. I've always walked to my own beat and didn't care much for ridicule. As a gender non-conformist from a young age, I learned early how not to take it to heart when people thought I should be a certain way. I thought I couldn't be fooled.

Boy howdy, do I feel like a fool now! Well guess what? Fool me once and all that. I'm feeling even more bitter and jaded now than I did before this, I must admit.

[Hydra]

5. It sure helps that people are willing to defend this BS, doesn't it?

I applaud you stating your position and what you are- in a discussion such as this, it's easy for people to say things like "Obama is taking the middle road and embracing the 'normal' people"

Who defines "normal"? People like Warren? Falwell? Bush?

The idea that Obama is embracing such a soulless extortionist is not a sign of strength- it's a sign of weakness.

[mitchtv]

6. Obama was not my first choice neither was HRC

When he won the primwry we supported him with votes and several contributions. I thought after McClurken he eould be less offensive to us. I knew to ecpect nothing but hopefull a benign neglect, but alas we have become his "Sista Soulja" moment which I also had feared. I am not suprised. I have my marriage to worry about now , and he is rewarding the perpetrators.

[gaspee]

7. Me neither

I actually supported Edwards because I am an anti-poverty activist. I think Senator Clinton, of those three, was the most pro-gay. When Edwards dropped out, I supported Clinton. When Clinton conceded, I voted for Obama.

Unlike all the jonny-come-latelys on this message board, I have voted for the Democrat in every single election since 1988, when I turned 18.

But I've been accused of not supporting "the party" because I was late to the Obama train. If Obama had not hired McClurkin, I probably would have supported him earlier.

I've been to this dance before and I don't want to do it again. It takes courage to do what's right when the majority don't agree with you. Sadly, LBJ showed more courage when it comes to minority rights than Obama has. How fucking sad is that?

Some constitutional scholar he is.

If women's right to vote was left to the majority, we women still would not be able to vote. If integration of the armed services was left to congress, rather than by presidential order, we'd still have a segregated military.

If the voting rights act and other civil rights legislation of the 60's was left to majority vote, it would have died.

The ERA still hasn't passed because of religious bigots like Warren who think women have been ordained by god to be second class citizens.

The number of people supporting this farce on a supposedly left site like this sickens me.

[tbyg52]

8. Better than McCain and certainly Palin, but this Warren thing was either a kick in the teeth

or incredible stupidity. I haven't decided which, and I don't know which is worse.

[mitchtv]

9. I have decided that like McClukin

It was a cold , cynical ,callous, act of political gamesmanship . in a cruel attempt to gain a minor political advantage from an unfriendly group at the expense of a smaller, weaker group of "disposable" allies "who have nowhere else to go". At least that's what I get from the situation.The ensuing estrangement will give the admin to go ahead and do nothing for us. I will be sure to return the favor. I hope I am wrong.

[tomm2thumbs]

10. obama's big mistake keeps bubbling in the pot as he hides in hawaii

wonder how long this pot is going to take to boil over? (checking thermometer)

[tbyg52]

11. Hey, tomm2thumbs!

Welcome to DU! :hi:

[tomm2thumbs]

12. howdy do

mighty neighborly of you. tanks :hi: