If Barack Obama really wanted to reach out, then why isn't the Dali Lama speaking? Did Obama run as a world historical figure (cf, his speech in Berlin), or did I miss something? Why then is a divisive, delusional fundamentalist christer being given the opening spotlight, when a true man of peace isn't? Are we that insular, xenophobic and blinkered that a home grown fundamentalist christer preacher whose intolerance hearkens back to Jim Crow and who accepts biblical inerrancy must "bless" the inaugural proceedings? Must I embrace a christer who would spit in my face? Is this the man who will usher in the new day, the change that Obama promised?
There are any number of moderate, inclusive preachers Obama might have chosen, any number of 'holy' persons who might have delivered the opening benediction. Instead, he chose the current version of Jimmy Swaggert or Billy Graham? Yeech....
Sorry, but count me among those who see this not as reaching out to the lunatic fringe, but political expedience of the most Rovian kind. I understand the intent and tactic, I do not understand the choice.
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