Supposedly he was booked long before l’affaire Warren roiled the nutroots and Team Barry simply forgot to mention it until now. Ahem.
Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest gay civil rights organization, said in a statement that the choice was “encouraging.”
“Bishop Robinson models what prayer should be — spiritual reflection put into action for justice,” Solmonese said. “It is encouraging that the president-elect has chosen this spiritual hero, and that should remain our focus today.”…
An Obama source said: “Robinson was in the plans before the complaints about Rick Warren. Many skeptics will read this as a direct reaction to the Warren criticism — but it’s just not so.”
Also appearing at the event: Bono, Jamie Foxx, and Shakira, among others, although whether the biggest celebrity in the world will himself be making a cameo is as yet unclear.
David Brody thinks this might undo some of the goodwill Obama earned with Christian conservatives by tapping Warren for the inauguration. I’m skeptical.
If you line up ten Evangelicals on the street, my guess is that eight of them would say it doesn’t surprise them that Obama would choose an openly gay Bishop to deliver an invocation like this. But this cuts both ways to a degree. Obama took heat from the left on Warren and will no doubt take heat from the right on this pick. It’s a tough position for Obama to be in. He wants to reach out to all Americans but in the process he’s probably going to tick off a lot of people of faith. When you pick a controversial gay bishop that has been in the headlines for years and has come to symbolize gay rights (for some), it’s bound to get under the skin of conservative minded Evangelicals, many of whom may be ready to cut Obama some slack.
Exit question: 20 percent of evangelicals will be surprised to find a liberal Democrat endorsing a gay bishop? The reason picking Warren was shocking, I thought, was because they expected him to pick people like Robinson in the first place. Besides, no one in America believes The One’s sincerely against gay marriage. Why would this come as some sort of revelation?
Join the conversation as a VIP Member