The President and the Prayer Breakfast.

[annabanana]

Pres Obama is apparently still planning to attend the annual prayer breakfast hosted by The Family, despite their creepy ties to Uganda's "Kill the Gays" bill.

http://www.alternet.org/story/145366/at_national_prayer_breakfast%2C_obama_to_address_shadowy_christian_group_tied_to_uganda%27s_%27kill_the_gays%27_bill?page=entire

The breakfast draws leaders from all sectors of society, including a hefty contingent from the military. It's a coveted invitation.The event is usually the only public sighting of its sponsor,.the shadowy right-wing religious network known as the Family. Around the periphery of the event, the Family does what it does best: bringing together leaders from developing countries of special concern to U.S. business interests with members of Congress and people in government who hold the keys to the foreign aid kingdom.

~snip~

The Prayer Breakfast is closed to the media, except for those in the press corps that travels with the president. "It's a private event," explained Joe Mitchell of the National Prayer Breakfast Committee via a voice mail left in response to AlterNet's request for access. Invitations to the Prayer Breakfast go out on congressional letterhead, Sharlet said, even though the stated purpose of the gathering is distinctly Christian and not ecumenical -- a violation of the spirit of the First Amendment. "So, too bad Muslims, too bad, Jews -- this event is not for you," Sharlet said.

~snip~

Obama will seek to keep his own participation in the event low-key, Sharlet told AlterNet when he sat down with us in December. "He'll give a bland, kind of useless address," Sharlet predicted.

Yet a spate of recent scandals and exposes of the group's coddling of anti-democratic heads of state makes this the perfect time for a U.S. president to step off the Familiy's bandwagon. Indeed, his very presence lends legitimacy to a group that enacts its goals through informal lobbying and back-room deals, all knitted together through "prayer cells" of people with the power to effect the Family's right-wing, free-market agenda.

[PuraVidaDreamin]

1. He needs to end this warped tradition.

Obama, don't participate.

[Solly Mack]

2. No government official should attend and no military should attend

alas...

[annabanana]

8. Exactly. If attendance (and it's "mandatory" aura) promotes

a particular cult..

[midnight]

3. Not a good way to spend time....

[Obamanaut]

4. He went the the b'fast last Feb (2009). n/t

[cbdo2007]

5. It's just PR. Even if there was an athiest President in office

they would still go to this. It's part of their job to cater to many groups both that they do and don't agree with.

[Mari333]

6. bad PR move, dude.

but, after the rick warren fiasco Im not even remotely surprised.

[Vidar]

7. Lots of potential. Too bad he continues to use his powers for evill.