Here comes my two cents. Short, sweet and to the point.
Giving Rick Warren a speaking slot at the inauguration is a genius move by Obama, and all the outrage proves it.
Obama has to look like a centrist to get anything done. Moreover, he wants to be a centrist. If he takes some heat form us, the very left wing of the Democratic party, that's all well and good.
But Obama, appearances aside, does not want to govern like a centrist. He wants to be the most progressive president since FDR, but to do that, he must build consensus, not only on the Hill, but in the American public.
The elevation of Rick Warren is a brilliant move in that direction. Yes, Warren is a bigot, a homophobe, and working against tolerance for our GLTB brothers and sisters, but this pulpit will not permit him to preach that message anyway. Obama, however, is not any of those things. He is on record opposing DOMA and Don't Ask Don't Tell, and before he is done those laws will be but a memory. However, by giving Rick Warren a highly symbolic speaking position, Obama gets to pay lip service to a crowd whose support he is going to need for other initiatives, such as promoting green jobs, education reform, and infrastructure rebuilding. He needs the more socially conservative segment of America to ram his progressive agenda through because the kind of program he's talking about is too big to do partisanly. He needs consensus.
So he throws a bone to more moderate social conservatives, his left flank erupts, and Obama comes out of this thing looking fresh as a daisy. Meanwhile, he repeals DOMA and DADT, and we're giving him the political cover to do it.
I understand the emotion behind the opposition to Warren's speaking engagement but it's preventing people from seeing the very real political skill Obama is displaying. The outrage on his left is part of the plan, and I am content to wait and see if Obama is as smart as I think he is. If the second part of the plan, namely the pursuit of full rights for the GLTB community does not come through, I will pick up my pitchfork and join the rest of the mob.