meanwhile, as per rick warren

[solarbird]

I'm really surprised about how angry I am about this whole Rick Warren headshot. Surprised, no. Angry? Yeah, very. I guess I was secretly hoping for better. More fool my subconscious, then. Anyway, Rick would be pleased to note that the US yesterday refused to sign on to a UN declaration condemning the criminalisation and execution of GBLT people. The US is the only country in the Western world who refused to sign. The 70 countries which still have laws making GBLT people illegal - many of whom impose the death penalty - were no doubt pleased.

Glenn Greenwald takes apart the idea of the Warren selection being part of a "new, post-partisan" politics - at least the new part, running off a list of ways that Democrats have bent over backwards to accommodate Republican positions and demands only to be treated with more savagery and disrespect than before. He also points to this article saliently outlining how this boosts Rick Warren's goals:

If Democrats collaborate in positioning Warren as the centrist alternative to the religious right, they consign vast numbers of people, including many of the party’s most dedicated supporters, to the fringe. “It does strengthen Warren as kind of a new Billy Graham figure,” says the Reverend Dan Schultz, a United Church of Christ pastor and the founder of the progressive religious blog Street Prophets. That has especial relevance for Warren’s role in Africa, where a very conservative kind of evangelical Christianity is exploding, bringing with it virulently anti-gay politics.

Feminists and gay people have long feared that the Democrats’ much-vaunted new religious outreach would come at their expense, and the Warren choice seriously exacerbates such anxieties. Both groups have long complained that that their concerns aren’t taken seriously by the broader progressive coalition, a lament that’s gained urgency in the wake of the explosive sexual politics that marked the election. By honoring Warren, Obama is rubbing salt into wounds that have barely begun to heal...

After all, Warren is not just anti-abortion—he is anti-egalitarian. A page on his Web site Pastors.com, a resource for his fellow Christian leaders, features a woman named Beth Moore explaining and even celebrating the necessity of wifely submission....

By choosing Warren, he is suggesting that Warren’s positions on gay people, women and Jews aren’t really that bad, and that he can be a unifying force in American life. Whether Obama intends to or not, he’s pulling a Sister Souljah on some of his most ardent backers, writing them out of the American mainstream at precisely the time when, thanks to his election, they were so dearly hoping to reenter it. ... Obama is sending a message of respect and conciliation to those who oppose gay rights, women’s rights and secularism more broadly.

John Cole at Balloon Juice says Mr. Obama's platform is clear and that complaints are "obnoxious and silly." He then lists HRC's endorsement points and rating of Mr. Obama from earlier in the campaign, with essentially the implicit trust that Mr. Obama won't be changing course on any of these agenda items because of that. I've already mentioned the previous most-gblt-friendly-evar platform; all I can add at this point, I suppose, is, "FISA."

However, to be fair, he does point out that the benediction will be delivered by Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery, a long-time civil rights advocate who does support actual equal rights. This doesn't change anything about my polite political society post before, or the quoted material above - but it is worth the call-out.

In other news, this article on the media coverage of American government torture is reasonable, noting that even when there is coverage, it is neither of degree or kind to other news topics such as the Blagojevich scandal.

Comments

[llachglin.livejournal.com]

Choosing Rick Warren is a kick in the teeth of anyone who supports equal rights, and I really don't see the upside. My guess is that the thinking is that they're planning on using Warren to get conservative support for action on global warming and other issues that he supposedly supports, while ignoring his hateful views. Unlike overt racists, anti-gay fundamentalists represent a significant chunk of the electorate. But it's possible to engage without giving a central symbolic role, and the reality is that Warren's less noxious views are just whitewash on a Jerry Falwell agenda. Warren doesn't really want to work together on issues of agreement; he just wants respect, a place at the table, and some TV time. Obama shouldn't be helping him.

That said, I don't think this says anything about policy in an Obama administration, and that's what matters. Bill Clinton didn't choose a reactionary homophobe to give his inaugural invocation, yet he reversed his campaign pledge on gay rights almost immediately upon election. If Obama does the opposite--giving time to social conservatives while implementing policies that provide more equality--I'll be happy. January 20th is much less important than every day thereafter.

I feel similarly concerned about some of Obama's cabinet picks, most notably his pick for Transportation Secretary. Picking a Republican without deep expertise in transportation and a mixed voting record at a time when massive investment is needed in mass transit and rail infrastructure is a strong indication that he doesn't take the issue seriously. But again, we won't know if this is true until policy actually starts getting made. I'm willing to give an inclusionary style a chance if it delivers results. Right now, it's too early to tell.

[cafiorello.livejournal.com]

OK, this pisses me off. But if the media reports of delaying the repeal of DOMA and DA,DT are also true, well, I knew he wasn't really a progressive, but feh!

On the bright side, the NYTimes calls it torture and is agin it:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/18/opinion/18thu1.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=torture&st=cse

Cathy

[darthhellokitty.livejournal.com]

I think the best we're going to get is "better than the last one". Which is certainly something, but not what some of us hoped for.

Thanks for the link, solarbird!

[dan-ps.livejournal.com]

Appreciate it!

Re: Thanks for the link, solarbird!

[solarbird]

Woah, I think you're the first person ever to have noticed. j0. ^_^

[flashfire.livejournal.com]

Dunno if it's just him trying to play the political game or not, but:

California Attorney General Jerry Brown Urges Repeal of Proposition 8 (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/19/california-attorney-gener_0_n_152525.html)

SAN FRANCISCO — The California attorney general has changed his position on the state's new same-sex marriage ban and is now urging the state Supreme Court to void Proposition 8.

In a dramatic reversal, Attorney General Jerry Brown filed a legal brief saying the measure that amended the California Constitution to limit marriage to a man and a woman is itself unconstitutional because it deprives a minority group of a fundamental right. Earlier, Brown had said he would defend the ballot measure against legal challenges from gay marriage supporters.

But Brown said he reached a different conclusion "upon further reflection and a deeper probing into all the aspects of our Constitution.

"It became evident that the Article 1 provision guaranteeing basic liberty, which includes the right to marry, took precedence over the initiative," he said in an interview Friday night. "Based on my duty to defend the law and the entire Constitution, I concluded the court should protect the right to marry even in the face of the 52 percent vote."

(More via link)