This was posted as a rather late update in my previous diary on the subject. But it was added so late, i don't think anybody saw it. I've added a few things and tweaked my arguments a bit. So at the risk of beating a dead horse, I'm posting it again because I feel it's important.
ON Warren-Gate
President-Elect Obama has been preaching for two years how we need to engage our enemies abroad. This means talking to Iran. He's been preaching the same message domestically. What did you all think that looked like? That means at some point, sitting down with, and talking to, people you fundamentally disagree with.
Barack Obama isn't afraid to talk to Machmoud Achmeninajad, do you really think a creampuff like Rick Warren intimidates him?
See past the anger, see past the symbolism and look at the nuts and bolts politics of it. This is an opportunity. Obama is never ever in a million billion years going to agree with Rick Warren regarding gays. That's ok. They don't have to agree on gay issues in order to work together on other issues.
But we can agree on global warming, poverty, hunger, volunteerism, AIDS and about a billion other things.
If Rick Warren giving the invocation buys an opportunity to solve those problems, I think that's worth the bad symbolism of it. The cold hard truth is, WE WON. We have to be the adults. We have to lead on this. Somebody somewhere has to be the first one to offer their hand in friendship. Obama is doing that.
This is exactly what Obama has been running on and it's one of the biggest reasons I supported him. And now, when he actually follows through on his policy of engagement and reaching out, a lot of his base gets angry, which seems really silly to me. Maybe you should have backed Hillary and her policy of "obliterating" our enemies.
This is an opportunity. Obama can, and will, use this to build good will with Warren and the MILLIONS of people he represents. Those are allies we need if we're going to accomplish the kind of transformational change we need.
Maybe they won't ever bend on gay rights. Maybe they will. But we won't know until we engage them. You'd think after the lack of engagement and outreach that lead to the passage of Prop 8, the GLBT community would have learned its lesson.
I get that people are upset about the symbolism. But i'm asking you to look at the big picture. Look at the long term goals we want to accomplish. Warren can be an ally, maybe not on gay issues, but on other very important things. See this as an opportunity. See this as Obama keeping his promise to talk to and engage our "enemies".
On Civil Discourse
"We must never confuse dissent with disloyalty."
What i've seen here on kos has been part of the problem we need to solve. I'm trying to have a rational, fact based debate, and i was called a bigot once directly, and it was implied indirectly several more times.
I hate to say, but some of what i've seen here reminds me of the wingnuts we're supposed to outclass. I mean, we're supposed to be the rational, fact-based community, and yet, I, a 24 year old gay man living in Columbus, Ohio who's dating a black man, was called a bigot because of a political disagreement.
That is absurdity, folks. When you attack someone's credibility, or insinuate they're not having a good-faith, honest disagreement, I kind of feel the need to defend myself by reminding you I'm not the enemy. I'm an ally.
But more importantly, I wanted to point it out because I think it's demonstrative of the problem we've had over the last 8 years in particular, but probably forever. Civil discourse means not assuming the worst about those with whom you disagree. It means we can disagree without calling each other bad names.
I'm not your enemy. I'm on the same side as you. I want the same rights, as a gay man, that everyone else has. And yet, I'm called a bigot because I don't think Rick Warren saying a prayer is an act of betrayal, or a "spit in the face" of the GLBT community.
Just because I disagree with you on how to get from point A to point B doesn't mean I'm a "bigot". And that kind of thing is not helpful or constructive to what we're trying to accomplish. If this is how you you treat an ally with whom you disagree, I can understand why some moderates and conservatives caricature us as the "angry left".
We are the change we've been waiting for. So let's act like it, huh?