A minor Christmas bicker
It was fun to see Earl on CNN recently, debating with David Gergen and some other distinguished talking heads!
Jonathan says that Obama's choice of Rick Warren for I-Day will backfire. I still believe that both Obama and Warren are shrewdly taking a risk because they realize they each represent the sole opening that the other one needs to expand their reach. That's noble for both of them, but it could take ten years for people to realize that.
It's called creative compromise. If you look back at what the Great Emancipator actually said about black equality in the 1850s, it wasn't terribly complimentary. We look back on it now as a case of Lincoln pushing his agenda gently, in accordance with the times. At a moment when gay marriage got hammered at the ballot box, I think the gay community can see that creative compromise, and creative engagement, can do more to achieve their long-term goals than by rubbing every last evangelical's nose in it.
On another note, Gail-T says that the shoe-tossing Iraqi was out of bounds. I totally agree. I don't think anyone needs to praise the shoe-tosser for his "courage," but I think it's a blackly comic icon of the President's relationship with much of the world.
I'm no conservative Christian, and I still see no problem with the Rick Warren piece.
For one thing, Warren's brand of Christianity isn't focused on shoving right-wing moral choices down the collective throat of the rest of us with constitutional amendments and judicial picks.
From what little I know of it, the whole Saddleback vibe is more "Purpose-Driven Life" and less "y'all are going straight to $%^& hell if you don't go my way on every $%^&^ thing."
Having Barack share the spiritual wealth is OK by me. If he really can be a uniter and not a divider, that'll go a long way toward healing the cultural wounds that have festered for so very long.
Agreed, Steven. There's been lots of talk about uniting in recent decades, but no one has taken the serious heat that will precede/accompany true uniting. Give Obama and Warren credit for that.
Secular progressives and gay and lesbian activists want tolerance; but sometimes I wonder how tolerant they're willing to be.