Democratic Milquetoast of the Week: Barack Obama

I was originally anticipating giving the first award of this dubious honor to someone like Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi or Alan Colmes. After all, Reid oozes wimpiness, and I anticipate he’ll be earning this honor on a regular basis. As it turns out, fate has demanded a different recipient.

Barack Obama is officially my first Democratic Milquetost of the Week!!! I’m really disappointed in you, Barack. I know that even the pros screw up from time to time, and maybe you got thrown off because you’re moving into a new job and have to learn a new set of tricks, but really, you’re off your game.

I imagine that you already know what this is about: the choice of Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at his inauguration.

I can understand why he did it. I know he wants to let America and the world know that he is a President for all Americans, not just Democrats. That’s very wise, and absolutely refreshing when compared with the past eight years, when Karl Rove told a Senator that he didn’t want 80 votes in exchange for some concessions; he just wanted 51 votes so he could force conservative ideology down all our throats.

Obama’s wish to bring us together and help us find common ground is noble, and to be encouraged. His desire to help us recognize that we’re all Americans, and that it’s OK to come together as a whole nation instead of flinging poo at each other from our armed camps, is close to the top of the reasons why I voted for him, phone-banked for him and donated hundreds of dollars to his campaign.

At the same time, reckless extension of olive branches can backfire horribly. The Republicans as of late have very much of a “Give us an inch and we’ll take a mile” mentality. Too many times, Democrats have sat down at the table with Republicans, only to find the Republicans negotiating in bad faith, demanding concessions without giving any of their own. The end result is yet another humiliating bitch-slap. Democrats cannot afford to let the impression of them being bitch-slapped go unchallenged. Even though some of these bitch-slaps may be because of caves induced by tasty campaign contributions from moneyed interests, this sort of behavior backfires. When everyone thinks you’re a contemptible little wuss, money funneled into advertising and phone-banking and other forms of campaigning can be surprisingly ineffective at changing that impression and saving you from electoral defeat. That’s especially true when jackasses like me are calling you out for this behavior.

I’m not saying don’t sit down with the Republicans. I’m not saying to treat them as The Enemy and wage perpetual war with them. Huddling in our armed camps and flinging poo over the wall will not bring more people to our side. We have to sit down at the table with those we disagree with, talk over our differences civilly, and maybe if we can make a compelling case to them, some can be persuaded. At the same time, we must be tough negotiators, and be very careful not to give away our principles. If we give away the store, not only will we lose ground politically, but we’ll lose basic respect. People are pretty contemptuous towards those they see as wimps, or milquetoasts.

Obama chose Warren because in some circles, he’s seen as being a moderate evangelical. There’s one problem. Rick Warren is not moderate. He was described on Countdown with Keith Olbermann as “Jerry Falwell with a Hawaiian shirt.” His views are very much hard-core religious right. The things he’s said about the gay community are downright hateful. He was a big player in the campaign for Proposition 8 in California, and compared gay marriage to incest, polygamy and pedophilia.

By giving Rick Warren the honor of giving the invocation at his inauguration, Obama gave way too much to the right-wing in terms of their demands to be included in the ceremony and in his presidency. It’s an understandable mistake – the invocation is a purely ceremonial role, and it’s not like Obama gave Rick Warren a position in the Cabinet. Not only was it too much given away, but what was given away was that which should not be given away even in the tiniest quantities – respect for civil liberties. The gay community is reacting in the way they are because they feel they’ve been slapped in the face. It was a capitulation of principles, and of a chance to stand up against homophobic intolerance. While there’s lots of shades of grey in politics, there are some cases where there is such a thing as a pure black-and-white, right versus wrong issue. Dealing with intolerance is one of those cases. We cannot give even the slightest shred of credibility to intolerance, ever.

Well, the damage is done, so what is Obama to do? Let’s try to come up with a solution that’s in the spirit of change and unity that Obama campaigned on.

Obama could throw Warren under the bus by yanking his invitation to perform the invocation, while loudly condemning his stance on homosexuality. It’d undo the immediate damage, throw some red meat at the base, but as far as unity and change goes, it would be counterproductive. We’d all be back in our armed camps, screaming and flinging poo, and chances are good that nothing would get done. We’d get no stimulus for our trashed economy, no universal health care, no progress towards an end to the war in Iraq, just the same old crap.

So no, throwing Warren to the wolves does not work towards Obama’s goals, and doesn’t bring the country forward.

What other options are there? Well, we could look back at Obama’s race speech he made during the Rev. Wright circus in the primaries…

Some will see this as an attempt to justify or excuse comments that are simply inexcusable. I can assure you it is not. I suppose the politically safe thing would be to move on from this episode and just hope that it fades into the woodwork. We can dismiss Reverend Wright as a crank or a demagogue, just as some have dismissed Geraldine Ferraro, in the aftermath of her recent statements, as harboring some deep-seated racial bias.

But race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now. We would be making the same mistake that Reverend Wright made in his offending sermons about America – to simplify and stereotype and amplify the negative to the point that it distorts reality.

The fact is that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we’ve never really worked through – a part of our union that we have yet to perfect. And if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like health care, or education, or the need to find good jobs for every American.

Now we’re getting somewhere. The key is not to simply throw another stinkbomb and dive for the foxhole. Obama needs to attack the issue of anti-gay discrimination head-on. Recognize that bigotry and discrimination are absolutely wrong, but at the same time, humanize those who do it, bring them to the table, and work to persuade them to take a different path. I suspect that the action that Obama’s planning is going to take place in his inauguration speech. What’s Rick Warren going to do? He gets thirty seconds to say some words, wave a dead chicken for the Deity, and that’s about it. The real action belongs to Obama. Millions of people will be watching – far more than the number that watched his race speech. After eight years of George W. Bush’s big speeches, which were little more than concatenations of right-wing talking points, we’re in for a treat. Barack Obama has proven that he knows how to write and present a coherent, intelligent and artful speech which delivers leadership and helps turn our country in the right direction.

If I were him, my inaugural message would be one of reconciliation, of sitting down and addressing our differences, and of coming together not as a red America or a blue America, but as the United States of America. The speech would certainly condemn homophobia, and emphasize that there’s no room for hatred in his administration. At the same time, this speech should explain that he’s willing to work with everyone in the country from the GLBT community to evangelical Christians, as long as they’re willing to negotiate in good faith, listen to each other and make reasonable concessions to help form an America we all can live in. Give Warren some kudos for his more progressive positions on issues like poverty, disease and global warming, to give an example of where common ground can be reached, but make it clear that we cannot compromise on civil rights.

Get ready for one hell of a message when Obama puts his hand on the Bible, takes the oath of office, and makes his first address as President of the United States. If Obama’s on his game, he’ll hit another one out of the park. The Deity sure knows that we need a President who’s on his game. But until he hits that home-run and makes up for his capitulation of principle, he’s this week’s Democratic Milquetoast of the Week!