Saying that the nation needs to get
beyond “shaking our fists” across a “jagged edge” of a
divide, David Axelrod, President-elect Barack Obama's senior adviser,
has defended the choice of Rev. Rick Warren to give the inaugural
invocation. But a new editorial in the New York Times arrives
at an opposite conclusion.
Warren is the best-selling author of
The Purpose Driven Life and heads the prominent evangelical
Saddleback church in Southern California. A rising leader in the
evangelical movement, Warren supports the outlawing of abortion in
all cases and is a staunch gay rights opponent. But his moderate
tone on AIDS, poverty and climate change have made him controversial
among social conservatives.
Gay rights activists say they are
protesting the pick because Warren is homophobic. Joe Solmonese,
president of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay and
lesbian rights advocate, called it “disrespectful” to gays and
lesbians.
Speaking on NBC's Meet The Press
on Sunday, Axelrod said: “The important point here is you have a
conservative evangelical pastor coming to take part in the
inauguration of a progressive president.”
“This is a healthy thing and a good
thing for our country,” he told moderator David Gregory. “We
have to find ways to work together on the things on which we do
agree, even when we profoundly disagree on other things.”
“We gotta get beyond this sorta
politics where ... we're each on the jagged edge of a great divide,
shaking our fists at each other,” Axelrod said in response to
comments made from televangelist Pat Robertson.
But after losing gay marriage rights in
California on Election Day, frustrated gay activists have
increasingly looked at the incoming administration as the silver
lining in this year's election results. And the selection of Warren,
a proponent of California's gay marriage ban, who likened gay marriage to an
incestuous relationship and polygamy, leaves gays and lesbians, who
happen to be major Obama supporters, questioning his commitment to
gay rights.
The controversy over Warren to deliver
the nation's prayer was also hashed out at the New
York Times on Sunday,
where columnist Frank Rich disagreed with the pick, saying it “adds
an asterisk to the joyous inaugural of our first black president.”
Rich called the choice “a glib
decision by Obama to spend political capital.”
Obama reasoned his choice of Warren at
a December 17 press conference, saying: “I am a fierce advocate of
equality for gay and lesbian Americans. It is something that I have
been consistent on, and I intend to continue to be consistent on
during my presidency. What I've also said is that it is important
for America to come together, even though we may have disagreements
on certain social issues.”
Also against the pick is openly gay
Massachusetts Representative Barney Frank. “I am very disappointed
by President-elect Barack Obama's decision to honor Reverend Rick
Warren with a prominent role in his inauguration,” Frank said in a
press release.
“Mr. Warren compared same-sex couples
to incest. I found that deeply offensive and unfair,” Rep. Frank
said on CNN's Late Edition.
“If he was inviting the Rev. Warren
to participate in a forum and to make a speech, that would be a good
thing,” Frank said. “But being singled out to give the prayer at
the inauguration is a high honor. It has traditionally given a mark
of great respect. And, yes, I think it was wrong to single him out
for this mark of respect.”