The skunk at Obama
By
Bill Press Read Spanish Version
As
we get ready to begin a new administration, here’s one important rule
for loyal Democrats to remember: You don’t have to agree with Barack
Obama on every issue.
Good
thing! Because a lot of Democrats find it impossible to agree with
Obama’s inviting evangelical pastor Rick Warren to give the
invocation at his inauguration.
Granted,
Rick Warren’s more progressive than most evangelicals. He’s a leader
on global warming, for example, and has also encouraged Christians to
focus less on divisive social issues and more on global issues like
poverty and AIDS. Indeed, those positions have earned him the
reputation of a "Christian flip-flopper" among many
evangelicals. But Warren is still clearly on the opposite side of
several important progressive issues Democrats have fought for all
their lives.
For
starters, Warren is strongly anti-abortion. In a recent interview
with columnist Steven Waldman on Beliefnet.com, Warren argues that
life begins at conception — based on his reading of the Bible, not
on science. He also equates abortion with the Holocaust and ridicules
calls for reducing the number of abortions — through family planning
or comprehensive sex education, for example — as little more than a
"charade." While he insists that Obama is a "good
friend," he admits that the idea of voting for a "Holocaust
denier" (i.e., someone who is pro-choice) was a "deal-breaker"
for evangelicals.
Wait
a minute. The Democratic Party is officially pro-choice. So is Barack
Obama. So what’s an anti-choice preacher doing up there with a
Democratic president?
Not
only that, Rick Warren also supported Proposition 8 on California’s
November ballot, which overturned a California Supreme Court decision
and outlawed same-sex marriage — a measure Barack Obama opposed. In
the same Waldman interview, Warren contends there’s no difference
between same-sex marriage and a brother marrying his sister (incest),
an older man marrying a young child (pedophilia), or a man’s having
multiple wives (polygamy). According to Warren, they all violate the
traditional definition of marriage that’s 5,000 years old.
Actually,
5,000 years ago, the traditional definition of marriage was, in fact,
a man’s having multiple wives — which Warren would know if he had,
in fact, read the Bible. But more to the point: The Democratic Party
is officially pro-gay rights. So is Barack Obama. Again, what’s an
anti-gay preacher doing up there with a Democratic president?
On
another issue, Warren is also an outspoken creationist, who believes
that the theory of "intelligent design," and not evolution,
should be taught in public schools. "If you’re asking me do I
believe in evolution, the answer is no, I don’t. I believe that God,
at a moment, created man. I do believe Genesis is literal," he
told Newsweek’s Jon Meacham.
Warren
further believes that homosexuality disproves evolution. He explained
to CNN’s Larry King: "If Darwin was right, which is survival of
the fittest, then homosexuality would be a recessive gene because it
doesn’t reproduce and you would think that over thousands of years
that homosexuality would work itself out of the gene pool." Of
course, Warren ignores the obvious conclusion that since
homosexuality has not "worked itself out of the gene pool,"
it can no longer really be considered abnormal human behavior.
Add
to his religious views the fact that Warren’s last involvement in
politics was in 2004, when he sent a letter to 150,000 pastors urging
"those of us who accept the Bible as the word of God" to
vote for George W. Bush, and you have to wonder: What was Barack
Obama thinking?
His
staff says Obama’s decision to invite Warren to give the invocation
is just one more way for him to show how "inclusive" he is.
Hogwash. Obama wouldn’t invite a white supremacist to speak. So why
invite a man who contradicts everything the Democratic Party stands
for? Don’t elections mean anything?
Four
million Obama supporters are expected to gather in Washington on Jan.
20 to celebrate his inauguration and welcome the change of direction
he promised. But, unfortunately, there will be a dark cloud hanging
over the Washington Mall that day, because one of the first speakers
they hear will be a man who, despite his good works in some areas,
also preaches the divisive policies of the past: anti-choice,
anti-gay, anti-evolution. Let’s just hope he doesn’t wear a Hawaiian
shirt.
Yes,
Barack Obama has made a lot of good moves so far. But chalk this one
up as his first big mistake.
Bill
Press is host of a nationally syndicated radio show and author of a
new book, "Train
Wreck: The End of the Conservative Revolution (and Not a Moment Too
Soon)."
You can hear "The Bill Press Show" at his Web site:
billpressshow.com. His email address is: bill@billpress.com.
(c)
2008 Tribune Media Services, Inc.
