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Rev. Louie Giglio uplifting
Wow, deja vu all over again, once more with feeling!
Yet again, a pastor chosen to speak at Barack Obama’s Inaugural ceremony has a long, visible, storied history of anti-gay animus.
The Presidential Inauguration Committee announced Tuesday that the President Obama has selected Pastor Louie Giglio of the Georgia-based Passion City Church to deliver the benediction for his second inauguration. In a mid-1990s sermon identified as Giglio’s, available online on a Christian training website, he preached rabidly anti-LGBT views. The 54-minute sermon, entitled “In Search of a Standard – Christian Response to Homosexuality,” advocates for dangerous “ex-gay” therapy for gay and lesbian people, references a biblical passage often interpreted to require gay people be executed, and impels Christians to “firmly respond to the aggressive agenda” and prevent the “homosexual lifestyle” from becoming accepted in society.
How can this happen? Do the people who choose the pastors for Barack Obama’s inaugural events not vet their choices?
Or — worse — are these selections fully vetted and acceptable?
Many of you will recall the LGBT community — and its long-standing faith community allies — were upset in 2009 at Barack Obama’s choice of Pastor Rick Warren™ to provide the Inaugural with a benediction invocation as official events began on the West front of the Capitol. Now the Inaugural Committee has chosen this month’s benediction-provider; he’s an evangelical preacher with a strong anti-gay bias who favors “pray the gay therapy” and proudly pointed to his own father’s authorship of the Chick-Fil-A logo — in a tweet dated August 1 of last year, Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day.
Chris Johnson of The Washington Blade, that city’s LGBT newspaper, had this discussion with White House Press Secretary Chris Carney, following a Q&A with ABC’s Jonathan Karl about Chuck Hagel’s record on gay issues:
Washington Blade: The website ThinkProgress is reporting that the Pastor Louie Giglio, whom President Obama selected to deliver his inaugural benediction, held vehemently anti-gay views in the 1990s. In a recording attributed to him from that time, Giglio advocates for widely discredited “ex-gay” therapy, references a biblical passage often attributed to require gay people to be executed and impels Christians to “firmly respond to the aggressive agenda” and prevent the homosexual lifestyle from becoming adopted in society. Does the White House have a problem with Obama’s inaugural pastor holding those views?
Jay Carney: I haven’t seen that report. I would refer you to the inaugural committee. I haven’t seen the report.
Blade: So it’s fair to say that the administration was not aware of this sermon before the selection was made?
Carney: I’m saying that I haven’t seen the report.
Blade: The news is breaking days after the President nominated Chuck Hagel, whom, as you acknowledged, made those 1998 anti-gay comments against Jim Hormel. Is there some kind of statute of limitations on when someone can make anti-gay remarks and still deemed acceptable by the administration, and if so, what is it?
Carney: I think I’ve addressed the question about Sen. Hagel, and I would simply point you to President Obama’s record on LGBT issues as representative of his beliefs, convictions and his policies, and where he believes this country is moving and where he hopes to lead it.
AmericaBlog calls Louie Giglio “Rick Warren’s evil twin:”
If you hated Rick Warren giving the invocation at the first Obama inaugural, then you’re gonna love Pastor Louie Giglio being selected to give the benediction this time around. (SPOILER ALERT: He thinks being gay is a “malfunction.”)
This is not only an insult to the LBGT community; it’s a slap in the face to the long-time allies of equality throughout American faith communities. Why choose someone like Rick Warren or Louie Giglio when there are literally thousands of hard-working faith leaders who’ve never wavered in their support of full equality for ALL Americans?
Add your name, if you like, to this White House petition asking President Obama to withdraw this invitation and choose from among the many American faith leaders who have always fought for equality of all citizens before the law. The petition reads:
We petition the Obama Administration to:
Replace anti-gay Pastor Louie Giglio for the benediction at the inauguration with a pro-LGBT member of the clergy.
On January 9th you announced that you had selected Pastor Louie Giglio to give the benediction at your second inaugural. According to Think Progress, Pastor Giglio, like Rick Warren, has delivered sermons urging Christians to fight against LGBT equality. Four years ago Rick Warren was unacceptable for doing that. Today, Giglio is.
There are many members of the clergy active in the cause of civil rights and who have long been on the front lines of the fight for LGBT equality. As we told your four years ago, selecting a Christian fundamentalist who has a record of anti-gay sermons is offensive and unnecessary.
Therefore, we call on you to replace Giglio and to select a member of the clergy with a history of supporting LGBT equality to give the benediction at your second inaugural.
Created: Jan 09, 2013
Photo by cmcentral under Creative Commons license
76 Comments
I am baffled.
On the “evil to stupid” continuum, this choice (being a re-run) is truly gobsmacking.
The only thing I’m baffled about is why all the coy disguises? Why not just choose Fred Phelps and get it over with? If nothing else, it’s clear that Obama fervently believes in the fire and brimstone, wrath of god, follow me or suffer kind of Christianity.
The WH might not have a comment but I do. This is outrageous. Obama can’t seem to stop punching the left in the face and I would like to see him pay a price for that but the voters spoke and now we are left with no influence. Obama is going to be bi-partisan until his last day in office and we pay the price. Unforgivable.
Can someone please explain what Barack Obama is?
Would the term Neo-Uncle Tom be considered offensive? Seems like it describes him perfectly.
WTF!!!???
Again!!!!
I guess someone like Gene Robinson isn’t good enough.
Anyway, whatever,……. I didn’t vote for Obysmal this time around, so can’t say I’m really surprised.
Still, talk about tone deaf.
When someone shows you who they are, believe them. Of course he hates the gay. He is a self hating black man looking for approval from old, pasty, white guys. Wonder what else he hates about himself?
I don’t think this was a deliberate slap in the face. I think this was Obama’s team once again being clueless – which is not an excuse because it’s actually worse if it’s clueless.
They may not give a damn about their own approval ratings now, but what about the Democrats down the ladder? Especially the progressive African American ones? Gonna be a lot harder for them to shake the widely held belief that all AAs hate gays. (Nice way to drive a wedge in your coalition, Barack. Pulling up the ladder so soon?)
Kicking hippies, bashing gays, blowing up foreigners, blowing banksters.
Who needs Republicans when you’ve got President Barack Obama?
~
Signed the petition, and posted to Facebook (EWWWW… I almost never go there any more) for what it’s worth.
RUKiddin Me. This happy horseshit, yet again. If that fat, pasty-faced Rick Warren (closeted, keep your daughters away from ) self loather wasn’t enough for ya’ lyin’, righteous _ucks, what do you need from Barack to close the deal? A black Christian, loordy, loordy, that doesn’t sound anything like Malcolm X. Acouhntry negra, perhaps?
Okay, I accept that.
I might even actually believe it.
But: this is supposed to be the most diverse Administration in history. Where are the people speaking up in meetings before this is made public, who say, “Um, you know, we checked this guy and….”? Where are those people who are working there to keep Obama on his toes?
And if he won’t back down in private, or if the bigots prevail, then where are the principled LGBT resignations over this?
Where are the “now make me do it” professionals who should know better and keep him away from these insulting, demeaning, ridiculous choices? I won’t call them mistakes, because I agree they are not.
I go back to his “God’s in the mix” statement to Pastor Rick Warren™ about marriage in the summer of 2008: Obama must really believe all that Leviticus stuff about the gays. He must not know there is another, larger, embracing faith tradition in America that has always been all about equality.
Isn’t that sad?
Well, Bishop Gene spoke from the stage on the West Capitol Steps before Pastor Rick Warren™ did last time. But the network coverage excluded him. And the networks said they were told not to cover him.
Thank you, Marion!
Jesus H. Christ in a halter dress! Can’t one of those tools at HRC get David Geffen to call the President and ask nicely to replace Rev. Gigolo, maybe with a female clergy member, or at least somebody with no homophobic history? Is that so hard?
Sad? I don’t know – all I know is that I’m thoroughly angry, again. And Obama doesn’t even have to care how disgusted we are. A man who loves torture to head the CIA, a Republican for State (no good Dems?) and a bigot for talking to God at the inauguration. I throw up my hands in shame that I voted for him the first time – not the second.
Could the LGBT community please start a petition that won’t require me to create a whitehouse.gov account?
I mean, this reeks . . . I’ll gladly sign anything that’s NOT tied to the White House or .gov.
But this is just either in bad taste or a complete oversight on the part of the LGBT community. And I know they are better than this.
It’s his concession to the right wingnutz. And yes, likely his ‘slap’ at the LGBT community which he says he supports, but would NOT without the huge pressure they bring to bear on votes.
Fuck ‘em all, at some point they all die off . . . and each generation is more and more tolerant. It’s just hell getting our government to catch up with us ‘we the people’.
N again, that petition . . . was that a mistake or something?
Well, there’s always the corporate fascist control thing he’s got goin.
I can’t bring myself to sign the petition. I don’t think there should be a member of the clergy there at all. I know it’s not technically a violation of the establishment clause, but how about leading in such a way that doesn’t privilege a tradition of hate? I sent a message through the White House web site in this vein.
Yep. All done with intent and purpose to serve the needs of the corporate fascist rulers who own him and our government.
Once yer in the game, even the LGBT’s are owned and operated by the corporate fascists. NOTHING is sacred . . . everything is on the table. Speak up, you are OUT of the game.
Yes, even the LGBT community is corruptable at that level.
But this is about the pastor at hand. And for what ever reason he WAS chosen, it’s a horrid choice.
Ya gotta wonder why it seems to be so hard doncha?
*shakeshishead*
But this is life in a bought and owned nation. That we haven’t been rounded up yet into camps to me, is incredible, given the control wielded by the corporate fascists.
Once again Obama disrespects gay people.
Thanks for this, Teddy.
I’m sending it on to my daughter ["younger generation" recent college grad] and her friends, all of whom — whether gay or straight — work fervently for gay rights, and ALL of whom thought Obama was the “great savior” and of course voted for him.
Too bad their votes aren’t “retractable.” For me, that’s not a problem [did not vote for him this time].
And the Democrat who gets the next nomination will be even further to the right than Oblahblah, who recently self-identified as a “moderate Republican.” Count on it.
“Nothing succeeds like success;” and being elected President twice is about the most success a politician, especially a Democrat (sort of) can have since the Constitution limited Presidential terms.
So, it’s not only that we have no influence on Obama. It’s that Democrats recently helped push the nation still further to the right.
Teddy Partridge:
Of course there are. Legions of nice, normal, liberal Protestant pastors with good relationships with their local Democratic parties, a goodly number of who aren’t even of the dark-skinned variety that would look a bit, y’know, “off” in an event meant to appeal to real Americans.
Opting for these right-wing megachurch nightmares doesn’t just happen.
Though, FTR, count me as one who can imagine getting through the damn thing without any official prayers at all.
You don’t think Obama had anything to do with these choices? That it was just wild coincidence that Obama campaigned in Rick Warren’s church in 2008 and Rick Warren’s role at the most historic inauguration since Washington’s had nothing to do with Obama?
And that having another anti-gay pastor at another Obama inauguration is also a coincidence?
Is that your opinion?
Please do not bring skin color into this.
Teddy, all:
I was of half a mind to post this video, but decided against it. Right or wrong, separation of Church and State or no, Presidents *and* the federal government engage in prayer and acknowledgment of Christianity, even though the Congressional prayers, iirc, are now rotated among those of different religions.
But aside from Aretha’s outrageous hat, what I remember of O’s inauguration, and the hope some of sincerely had, was that Rick Warren’s prayer sucked big time, and he was so totally fucking outclassed by the Reverend Joseph Lowery.
I dunno how he felt about the LGBT community; he was old, and maybe not vvery tuned into the issue. But really, if ya listen to him, and sat down and talked to him for a spell…I think he would have opened his heart in love and comprehension.
I salute Reverend Lowery, and wish this President weren’t such a dick.
So where do you think “truly gobsmacking” is situated on the evil-to-stupid continuum?
Exactly.
Bill Clinton broke new ground in how much you can kick the Democratic base in the face and still reliably count on their votes come election time.
Barack Obama has taken that to the next level.
It will never stop getting worse until we face the fact that “lesser evilism” ensures that the lesser evil keeps getting more evil.
~
Of course, race is completely irrelevant.
Yes, members of the LGBT community suffer in a way that others don’t. But, equal rights for all humans is the most important political value I hold, IMO; and Obama has repeatedly disrespected everyone who stands for equal rights. In fact, he and his fellow New Democrats repeatedly disrespect the entire left.
Fuck him, them and the Trojan horse the DLC rode them in on.
Don’t be an ass.
Ummm, I don’t know? The only time anybody connected with Obama has communicated with me is when they were pointlessly begging for money during the campaign.
Obama has not the balls to dis-invite this guy just as he had not the balls to invite a pro-equality guy (you didn’t think it might be a woman did you? hahahahaha silly)to begin with. signing the petition is still worth it– if enough people do, it could become newsworthy
Bill Clinton rode a Tyson chicken to the Henhouse. Er… the White House. Wal-Mart paid the way. These character actors haven’t changed since Ronnie Raygun. Don’t trust these … Wads, for a country minute.
I think BHO is getting a good laugh by giving the finger to the single issue voters who kowtowed to him and attacked those who didn’t. There is going to be much rending of garments by some but it’s too late he’s the Prez thanks to their vote.
Really?
Indefinite “detention”… unreformed FISA extention… Rendition & Torture…Whistleblowers imprisoned while war criminals are being PROMOTED…KILL LISTS…rigged “trials”… I can literally go on like this for a long time. Much longer than I’m worth reading, quite frankly.
Add on to the top of all this, the White House is officially–for the second time in four years–mainstreaming hatred for the throngs of “liberals” and “progressives” swooning as he takes an oath of office he’ll shred the moment he gets back to the office. With a signing statement, of course!
You have to hand it to that A-Hole. He really knows how to set the tone for his last term before he gets to spend quality time with all the money he’s “earning” right now.
This seems particularly insulting because so many LGBT previous-supporters got on board last fall with the “done more than any other previous president” bandwagon, and came out and voted for Obama (again). It’s very disturbing to see this behavior rewarded with the choice of a(nother) anti-gay bigot — but not surprising to those of us who understand.
When people said “Just think what a president Obama will be when he doesn’t have to run for re-election!” I never thought that portended good things. Never.
It’s offical.
Gays under the bus!
What was it that Punaise said about Lieberman? Wonder what he would say about O.
Oh, well. “T”s live under that bus. I agree with Teddy though. This is much more likely to be a case of cluelessness that a deliberate slam. When one believes in a fire and brimstone, prp punishment deity, they are likely to get a benediction from a preacher who has expressed loathing of LGBT people. If he got a firefighter to give the benediction, he almost certainly would have selected one that has out out fires before. It’s kinda in the job description.
Gays…. aaaaand everyone else who isn’t in favor of this Right-Wing, corrupt, completely soulless administration. Which is most people more generally.
maybe you’re right and Obama really is a Leviticusian, what else explains it?
Great post, Teddy, but one thing needs to be corrected:
Rick Warren gave the invocation, not the benediction. The benediction — as wendydavis noted @30 — was given by Rev. Joseph Lowery, and it was a thing of prophetic beauty.
I especially liked this line from Lowery:
Lowery is a firm and outspoken believer in lgbt rights. Sadly, Obama has chosen poorly when looking for someone to walk in Lowery’s shoes for the second inaugural.
Obama has shown extreme cluelessness before. He has some of the worst political instincts ever. He’s just lucky the GOP is batshit crazy, otherwise he would have never won re-election.
Truly I mean no offense to anyone, I simply don’t understand why anyone could be surprised by Obama’s choice for this role in his 2d Grand Inaugural. I figured it was a foregone conclusion that Obama would choose someone just like Giglio or worse. I know that many of my gay friends voted for O bc they thought he was the lesser evil & did support LGBT civil rights. I don’t know why. Really.
O has demonstrated over & over exactly who he is. O is a self-loathing person mightily sucking up to the 1%. To say O is “center right” is a gross exaggeration. Frankly I truly believe O very much identifies with the Tea Party & makes RayGun look liberal. Too bad the teaBaggers are abject bigoted racist haters who loathe O more than anything… bc O is very much representing THEIR interests. O certainly has not yet done much of anything that can be identified as liberal, progressive or left wing.
Same old. Different day. Suck it up & get used to it. It’s only gonna get worse from here. Explain again the BIG difference O & RMoney? Good luck with that.
Politics.
Worst political instincts? The first African American in history to be elected President? And he just got reelected with a lot of votes from people who cursed him before and after they voted. Do you think that is an accident?
Well, maybe his own instincts are not impeccable, but those of David Axelrod are. (Axelrod had also run the 2006 campaign of Clintonite Deval Patrick, the first African American Governor of Massachusetts.)
The meme of Democratic strategists is “The Left has nowhere else to go.”
And the LOTE voters have proven them correct every time since Gennifer Flowers was a sweet innocent.
So why would a Democratic candidate waste time and money pandering to the Left? No, Democrats wisely spend their pander power on Independents and Republicans.
I don’t know if even votes count anymore. But I do know that LOTE voters help move the Democratic Party, and therefore the nation, to the right with every vote they cast for a center right Democrat (not even so center anymore, are they?)
Neither cluelessness nor a deliberate slam. Politics.
In this, members of the GLBT community, who are among Obama’s biggest bundlers, are simply calculated collateral damage in the Democratic Party’s war to wean as much of the religious vote as it can from Republicans.
Hey, he “evolved” into a pro-equal marriage stance after Biden spoke and his bundlers pressured him. And there was that DADT repeal, slow walked though it was to fall shortly after the 2010 midterms. Surely, Democrats won’t lose GLBT money or votes over a mere benediction? Obama didn’t lose much from the Warren invocation, did he?
I don’t know about most people, but he just elected with over 50% of the vote–if we can still believe in vote counts–and he could care less about anything else.
BTW, it is not just this administration. Obama is a New Democrat. So is almost every Democratic politician in D.C. who is appreciable under 80 years of age.
Either they started that way, or they converted or they got weeded out.
Dis-invite? Obama picked him. Please tell me you are not buying that the Inaugural Committee actually makes these choices? Especially after the flap from the left over Warren.
Please?
Not pointlessly. Small donors and volunteers are more trouble than they are worth to a ridiculously well funded campaign. However, there is a reason so much time and effort gets spent recruiting them.
If you are invested in a campaign by donating and/or volunteering, you are much likelier to actually get yourself to the polls and maybe preach the Democratic gospel to your fellow voters. And then, defend obama to critics.
So, they still think it’s worth the time it takes to recruit you and train you and solicit and book your little $50 donation.
If and when they perfect rigging of Presidential elections, things might change. Until then, you are worth your weight in gold.
Well, for about a few hours every four years anyway.
Thank you, Peter, and for the correction.
I approve!
I can’t argue with you given his choice for the past inauguration and the coming one, coupled with throwing his personal minister under the bus for speaking the truth.
Grover Cleveland was another Democrat who was elected twice and he is among the most lightly regarded presidents. On a historical ranking, Obama is in Grover Cleveland territory.
Grover Cleveland’s second, discontinuous term (1892-96) ended with the Depression of 1893, the worst until that time. Obama’s second term similarly looks like it will end with a resumption, and deepening, of the latest depression.
Totally agree. Obama is hard right, not center right. He has had to veer to the center right to get elected.
And this is why Obama is NOT another Bill Clinton, who truly is a centrist.
Obama the homophobe; once again, to the right of Reagan.
Please, Clinton was, is, an extreme homophobe. Clinton was truly a Dixiecrat. DOMA belongs to Clinton.
Clinton owns DOMA. DOMA, like NAFTA and the twin deregulation bills of 1999 and 2000 which caused the current depression were all Republican ideas promoted, championed and cheerfully signed into law by a two-bit political prostitute named Bill Clinton. He was, far and away, the most successful Republican President on the second half of the last century just as Obama is most successful Republican president of this century.
After he hurriedly signed DOMA he ran these ads on redneck southern radio stations: “Protecting religious freedom. It’s the foundation of our nation. When the Justice Department went after a church to gather the parishioners’ tithing money, the government was stopped cold because President Clinton overturned the government’s policy and protected us. It’s not the only time he’s defended our values… President Clinton wants a complete ban on late term abortions except when the mother’s life is in danger or faces severe health risks, such as the inability to have another child. The President signed the Defense of Marriage Act, supports curfews and school uniforms to teach our children discipline. President Clinton has fought for our values and America is better for it. Paid for by Clinton/Gore 96″
CBS News chief political consultant Marc Ambinder wrote: “One reason the Rick Warren thing is a big deal is because, after Bill Clinton, the gay community is unusually sensitive to getting the shorter angle of presidential triangulation. It is hard to overstate the optimism and excitement that gays and lesbians felt in 1992. But the optimism deflated spectacularly after “Don’t Ask, Don’t tell” and the Defense of Marriage Act, not to mention President Clinton’s sneaky 1996 ad boasting about DOMA, which aired only on Christian radio. Clinton was willing to say the word “gay” in public and appear in black tie at the Human Rights Campaign dinner, but, in the eyes of the gay political community, his commitment to gay rights vanished both times it counted most.” http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-4675355-503544.html
Counting on Democrats like Clinton, Obama and the rest is like being in that cult that dances with rattlers. You never know when you’ll get bitten.
What are you complaining about, you got the lesser of two evils?
I think the LGBT community had better get used to being just like the rest of us liberal ‘retards’. Expect to be slapped and treated like shit on a regular basis. You wielded your one weapon well, but Obama doesn’t need your money for reelection any longer.
And anyone who lived through the 2010 elections who thinks that Obama and his people give a good god damn about down ticket races is a fool.
Nope we will see much of the ‘fierce advocate’ with the ‘comfortable shoes’ who quietly undermines the base of the party every day. Only this time he won’t bother changing course when it becomes not so quiet…
Teddy, not sure if you will check back, but there is this.
I’m not making any comment about the pastor or Obama, but it seems something to celebrate.
The wheels on the bus go round and round…
Teddy, seriously, the thing that baffles me is that you are baffled.
When Obama’s black Harvard pal Henry Louis Gates Jr. felt disrespected by the police, Obama stopped the business of the entire country to intervene yet he has no qualms about disrespecting every gay person in the country with his embrace of yet another homophobic preacher at his Inauguration.
Yes, that is a tried and true saying, but it may not apply to politicians.
Politicians are good at showing us who they want us to think they are.
Another tried and true one:
Obama was a pot-smoking high schooler from Hawaii with a 60′s liberal mom and grandparents who also seem liberal for their era. He attended Columbia University and Harvard Law School, both then liberal bastions.
Then, he was a member of the Church of Jeremiah Wright for over 20 years. Reportedly, Wright did not preach homophobia, but did preach AIDS awareness, tolerance and compassion.
How likely is it that Obama emerged from all that as a fundamentalist, homophobic, bible thumper? And, btw, how many times has he been to church with his wife and kids since his election, outside of special occasions/photo ops?
In fact, how do you, as a Christian, believe that your pastor of 20 or 25 years is an anointed man to whom God sent you, who supposedly led you to salvation through his altar call, then say he is “like a crazy old uncle who says odd things” when the first controversy hits, then throw him under the bus forevermore when it looks as though the controversy is not going away in a minute and a half?
Doesn’t add up.
I think Obama cares everything about votes, first for himself, and, second, for his party, to which he owes an enormous amount. And both he and his party have been trying for a long time to get votes from the Republican religious right. (The DLC: Democrats should not be so “shy” about publicly displaying their faith.)
With all due fucking respect, get a fucking grip.
Do you really think that members of the gay community are going to have to get used to being treated poorly? Can you marry and divorce any person you wish to marry in any state in your own country? Did your family and church ever shun you because of your sexual orientation? Can you visit a Muslim nation, such as Saudi Arabia, without fear of being discriminated against, perhaps killed for your choice of consenting adult sex partner?
If so, how did you dare purport to school a member of the GLBT community on what it is like to be treated like shit? Being treated like shit by politicians, family, school mates and total strangers is Tuesday for them.
You owe an apology to everyone who read that post, but most especially to members of the GLBT community.
On homophobia, Obama is not to the right of Reagan.
For instance, Reagan signed an executive order flat out excluding gays from the military.
Clinton, triangulator that he was, cut that back some in favor of gays with DADT, which Dick Morris and Colin Powell helped him draft and Congress passed.
Obama had Congress repeal DADT, so that, in theory, gays may now serve in the military openly and also equally with hetereosexals. Members of GLBT community are still reporting problems in implementation, but we have at least gone from Reagan’s total exclusion to Clinton’s closet requirement to the current state of affairs (no pun intended).
I don’t know right now where Obama should be ranked, but I believe that history will rank him highly.
1. For one thing, he did get ACA passed.
Whatever we may think of the merits of the bill, President Theodore Roosevelt was the first to mention that Americans should have some kind of health coverage and many Presidents after TR tried and failed.
I think his plan sucks as only a Heritage Foundation Plan made even worse for the 99% by Obama, Congress and the Supreme Court possibly can suck. However, Biden was correct: passage of any health care plan, no matter how bad, after all that was indeed “a big fucking deal.”
2. Obama also got elected, and more significantly, re-elected with over 50% of the popular vote, the first Democrat to accomplish that since FDR.
That says more about voters than it does about either Obama term, but my guess is that it will impress those who rank, just as how much money a movie made can influence Oscar voters, even though financial success is not what they are supposed to consider.
It shouldn’t be all that impressive because of things like Truman did not run twice, Carter was undermined by his own party, of which the Kennedy challenge was only a part, while Obama went unchallenged and totally support by the politicians in his own Party, etc. Will the rankers parse every re-election attempt after FDR when considering where to rank Obama? I don’t know.
He did make a sea change for homosexuals in the military and is also the first President to approve publicly of marriage between spouses of the same gender.
Most significantly, Obama is the first President of (visible) color in the history of the U.S. and that is going to be a powerful incentive to rank him very well. The same will likely happen with the first woman.
Finally, this is one of the luckiest men I have ever come across. He makes Teflon Clinton look like flypaper.
Compared to Washington, Lincoln, TR, FDR, Truman and LBJ, I think Obama is a political lightweight. As a liberal, I am beside myself over wasted opportunity, his deceptions and so much else. But I still think he will historically get treated very well.
In all, I would not be surprised if they start putting him in the top ten at some point after I die. (Because that will happen only over my dead body.)
All the above said, I hope with all my heart that you are correct and I am so far off base it isn’t funny.
P.S. I see that I forgot to keep numbering in the post above. I did give many more than just 2 reasons for my theory.
I agree with you as to disrespecting homosexuals. However, Professor Gates did not just feel mistreated. He had been treated jaw droppingly badly by a cop named Sgt. James Crowley, known in Boston’s African American community long before that incident as Sgt Jim Crow.
Obama did not do diddly because of how Gates felt. Obama was covering Obama.
Obama had foolishly responded to a media question on the matter before he had all the facts. He could just as easily have said that he had no comment because he was not familiar with the facts. Instead, he made a rookie mistake and caused an uproar in the law enforcement and union communities. And the blue line, included an African American cop, closed ranks behind Crowley.
So, Obama called a the “beer summit” to put out the fire Obama had started unnecessarily for the good of Obama.
As a result, Gates never got any vindication for being treated shamefully.
Agree totally, but I have never voted LOTE.
Previously, that was because I was a low info voter whose heart the Democrats truly had. More recently, I’ve turned Green, even though it ain’t easy.