Assessing the "W." years, San Francisco Chronicle columnist Debra J. Saunders highlights how "To trash Bush was to belong." (hat tip: susu). Suddenly, however, the party line of self-righteous contempt is out, and marching in pro-government lock-step is in. One sign: public school officials cracking down on "inappropriate comments" that show a lack of respect toward Obama. And will "Saturday Night Live," hate-central of the Bush years, ever move beyond gently chiding Obama for his overabundant goodness and innocence?
Plus, other signs of the need for an ongoing CultWatch.
Whereas DC was full of demonstrators during both of George W.'s inaugurations, just about the only folks giving any indication of protest this weekend are gays raising an outcry over Obama's honoring of anti-gay activist/preacher Rick Warren by selecting him to deliver the Inaugural invocation. Here's hoping that spirit of dissent continues.
Have We Gotten the Message Yet?
HBO, which exclusively televised the Lincoln Memorial pre-Inaugural concert, did not include out Bishop Gene Robinson's opening invocation. According to HBO, "the Presidential Inaugural Committee made the decision to keep the invocation as part of the [untelevised] pre-show." (For it's part, team Obama, heralded for its near flawless event organizing skills, says it "regrets the error"). If a gay bishop prays in a forest of Obamists but nobody hears... (via Box Turtle Bulletin).
So much for in some small way counterbalancing the honor bestowed upon Warren.
Also, more on why Warren's selection to give the Inaugural invocation (which everyone will televise) was and remains morally wrong.
More. IGF contributing author David Boaz offers his Dissident Notes on the Obama Coronation.
25 Comments for “I’m Not Drinking the Inaugural Kool-Aid”
posted by Josh M. on
Stephen,
While I am not drinking the inaugural Kool-Aid either, I have to say that Rick Warren is not an anti-gay activist/preacher. He welcomes openly gay singles and couples at Saddleback Church. Also, he supports California’s domestic partnership law. He has done more for HIV/AIDS than any other pastor in America. For a Christian conservative, that’s pretty damn good, and he should be given credit for that. Your IGF colleague wrote a good article about this in “reaching out to move ahead”.
posted by Bobby on
So instead of teachers in the classroom thrashing Bush we’re gonna have the same radical teachers praising B. Hussein Obama.
That’s the problem of electing a “messiah” for president.
posted by avee on
Josh M., read down to some of Miller’s earlier postings,with links to Warren quotes that rival anything Dobson or others have said (i.e., comparing gay relations to pedophilia and bestiality). As for activism, if his public sermonizing on behalf of Prop. 8 isn’t anti-gay activism, than I don’t know what is.
posted by TS on
“B. Hussein Obama” – Bobby, some friendly advice.
Please don’t call him this. You sound like either you’re a moron or you think we’re morons. His name is “President Barack Hussein Obama.”
I don’t like him either. I voted for him knowing he’s a charlatan, and he has since turned out to be an even bigger charlatan. But to try to win some kind of laugh or make some kind of statement about the man by playing with his name? Makes you sound like you have no real arguments to deploy.
My statement about Obama: He is the master of vagueness. He thinks he is a greater man than he is. The electorate voted for him because his campaign expertly weaved a tapestry of nonspecific notions of hope and change. In reality, he is a bastion of the liberal orthodoxy, something he hid well from the conservative American electorate. He’ll gladly sacrifice his integrity for political expediency. He thinks he can be some kind of great conciliator because he condescends to understand all the world’s problems. He has fired up the people into a frenzy of enthusiasm with promises he won’t keep, at least not in any way recognizable to the people that voted for him.
Your statement about Obama: huhuh…Hussein! we just hung that guy! and Obama sounds like… Osama…heeheehee
posted by Richard J. Rosendall on
Well. Steve, at least you balanced your latest expression of contempt for Obama by respectfully dismissing everyone who is celebrating the inaugration as “drinking the kool aid.”
Actually, HBO’s snub of gay participants in the Lincoln Memorial concert is even worse: during the performance of “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” by Josh Groban and Heather Headley, the male chorus backing them up was the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC, which was neither announced nor captioned nor included in the credits at the end (though GMCW director Jeff Buhrman was thanked in the credits). There were other performers who were also not announced, so we can only speculate.
Actually, Bobby, we did not elect a messiah, with or without scare quotes. We elected Barack Obama. One would think that by now, after all this time, you could have gotten over your inclination to treat anyone who supports him as a silly teen on a crush. But suit yourself.
TS, it’s nice of you to knock Bobby for his trivial insults. As to your declaration that Obama has shown himself since the election to be an even bigger charlatan than you thought, can you cite specifics? He is widely thought to have handled the transition rather well.
I wonder if any of you resolute poor-mouthers will ever get over yourselves long enough to give this guy a shred of credit for his leadership skills. But of course you can’t please everybody, and Obama had to overcome a mountain of character assassination to get where he is.
posted by Bobby on
“Please don’t call him this. You sound like either you’re a moron or you think we’re morons.”
—Actually, that’s what Ann Coulter calls him, since his followers, “Obidiots” LOL, got pissed off everytime we reminded America of his middle name.
“His name is “President Barack Hussein Obama.””
—Like Coulter said, we should give him the same amount of respect the left gave Bush.
“Actually, Bobby, we did not elect a messiah”
—Y’all sure treat him like one. Other than Fox News, the media seems to get an erection every time they see ol’ Barrack, the con-artist previously known as Barry.
“I wonder if any of you resolute poor-mouthers will ever get over yourselves long enough to give this guy a shred of credit for his leadership skills”
—Let him lower taxes for real and maybe we’ll give him some credit. But you need to realize something, you democrats forget the way you treated Bush all this years. Your progressives comrades compared him to Hitler, you drew cartoons comparing him to a monkey, Saturday Night Life, John Stewart, Michael Moore, Bill Maher, and pretty much all the media except for Fox. Even today there are liberals in congress that want to try him for war crimes!
Let me put it clearly. When the liberal media stops having an orgasm everytime they see Obama, we’ll give him a break. Until then, vive la resistance!
posted by Carl on
“And will “Saturday Night Live,” hate-central of the Bush years, ever move beyond gentling chiding Obama for his overabundant goodness and innocence?”
You mean like spending months cheerleadering for Hillary and saying that Obama was a scaredy-cat who only got through because of biased media?
Of all the media outlets to criticize, we’re going to go after SNL? The show that helped Bush immensely by passing him off as nothing more than a loveable coot, while they savaged Al Gore as a flip-flopping robot? The show that stayed away from anything with even a hint of teeth for years after 9/11, and gave McCain and Guiliani free publicity outlets?
posted by Bobby on
SNL made fun of Hillary, with Obama the jokes where very nice and flattering.
That show made Bush look like an bumbling idiot!
posted by Patrick on
“Actually, that’s what Ann Coulter calls him”
Well if that shrill harpie MAnn Coulter calls him that……..
“That show made Bush look like an bumbling idiot!” hahahahahahaahaha Bush did a fine job all by himself.
posted by Bobby on
“”That show made Bush look like an bumbling idiot!” hahahahahahaahaha Bush did a fine job all by himself.”
—Yeah well, we’ll see how Obama does after the party is over. Eventually, Americans will get tired of hearing speeches about hopes and dreams and what a great country we are and how we need to commit to service. You progressives have won the battle, but not the war! We’re gonna fight you to the very end.
posted by TS on
“You progressives have won the battle,”
um, bobby, you are on a site nominally for gay moderates, conservatives, and libertarians.
I’d say a good half of this forum’s regular readers and contributors are opponents of orthodox liberalism (uninventive, quasi-socialist economics; indulgent, anti-responsibility social policy). Slightly less may be unenthusiastic about Obama because he is Mr. Popular right now.
posted by Bobby on
“um, bobby, you are on a site nominally for gay moderates, conservatives, and libertarians.”
—Yes, but Patrick is a progressive and Bush hater.
posted by Doug on
So how is “B. Hussein Obama” any worse than “W” or “Dubya”? I don’t recall many on either side objecting to the trivialization of President Bush by the use of his middle name, either.
posted by Bobby on
You see, Patrick. Doug gets it. You expect us to treat Obama with a lot of respect. Did you treated Bush with respect? No. So don’t expect the same.
posted by Patrick on
“Yes, but Patrick is a progressive and Bush hater.”
Do you often make things up Bobby? How do you know if I am a “progressive and a Bush hater” you have proof? I have never refered to George W. Bush as anything but. I found it funny that your excuse
“That show made Bush look like an bumbling idiot!” didn’t include his part in how people view him. As for calling President Obama B. Hussein we all know what images you want to create with that reference.
posted by Bobby on
Well Patrick, since Obama is canceling the Guantanamo trials and tribulations of those poor terrorists, including the men responsible for 9/11, perhaps mentioning his middle name makes sense.
He did take the oath with his middle name. I’m sure he’s proud of his muslim background. Maybe instead of “So help me God” he should have said “So help me Allah.”
posted by Patrick on
Bobby- you seem to be a big fan of subterfuge. I asked if you often make things up, where is your proof that “Patrick is a progressive and Bush hater”?
he should have said “So help me Allah.” So what? Is that supposed to be scary?
I don’t care if he invoked the all powerful Flying Spaghetti Monster during his oath.
posted by Pat on
So how is “B. Hussein Obama” any worse than “W” or “Dubya”? I don’t recall many on either side objecting to the trivialization of President Bush by the use of his middle name, either.
Doug, you make an interesting point. I was bothered with things like “Chimp” and certainly “Bushitler” and things like that. I’m not sure why people would write “Dubya” since it takes more key strokes than writing “W.” If the point was to make fun of Bush’s diction, then I have a problem with it. I never had a problem with “W,” because it did distinguish him from his father with whom he shared the same first and last name. So, as long as saying or writing “W” wasn’t intended to make a silly or slick point, I didn’t see a problem with it.
With Obama, we have seen similar silly monikers, such as “The One,” “Messiah,” and “Nobama,” among others. And since Obama doesn’t call himself Hussein, or B. Hussein, it is clear that persons using them are indeed trying to make a silly or slick point with such usage. Yes, during the inauguration, he used his full name, include his full middle name. Such things are sometimes done for very formal occasions. My diplomas also show my full middle name, but no one calls me P. James or Patrick James.
So now what we see, in many cases, the same people who were bothered or offended by the various silly monikers used on Bush, have began using silly monikers on Obama. And we also see the ones that have used the silly monikers on Bush are offended by the use of silly monikers on Obama. Nothing new here.
posted by Bobby on
“Bobby- you seem to be a big fan of subterfuge. I asked if you often make things up, where is your proof that “Patrick is a progressive and Bush hater”?”
—I ASSUMED, OK? SOMETIMES IT’S OK TO ASSUME. Patrick wrote:
“Well if that shrill harpie MAnn Coulter calls him that……..”
That’s how progressives and Bush haters usually refer to Ann Coulter.
posted by Bobby on
What really offends me, Pat, is the love and devotion that the media has for Obama. If McCain had won we would not be putting out with this disgusting outpouring of love.
posted by Patrick on
“—I ASSUMED, OK? SOMETIMES IT’S OK TO ASSUME. Patrick wrote:
“Well if that shrill harpie MAnn Coulter calls him that……..”
Whats with the caps? No it’s not OK, not this time.
“That’s how progressives and Bush haters usually refer to Ann Coulter.”
Have you ever listened to her? She is shrill. And when you say to someone of Jewish ancestry ” Read it like you are reading Mein Kamph” that qualifies as a harpie in my book. Check her out on Youtube, my guess is most people say much worse about her than shrill harpie. I also think she is dry as a bone, maybe she could use some personal lubricant?
posted by Bobby on
Patrick, I’ve read two of her books and I read her weekly column. And she’s not anti-semitic, nor is every other christian that has tried to convert me. As you know, evangelicals like spreading the gospel, they are commanded to let everyone know the good news of Jesus.
Would a harpie write brilliant stuff like this?
From anncoulter.com
“It is a liberal trope to insult conservatives by asking them meaningless questions, such as the one repeatedly asked of Bush throughout his presidency about whether he had made any mistakes. All humans make mistakes — what is the point of that question other than to give insult?
When will the first reporter ask President Obama to admit that he has made mistakes? Try: Never.
No, that question will disappear for the next four years. It will be replaced by the new question for conservatives on every liberal’s lips these days: Do you want Obama to succeed as president?
Answer: Of course we do. We live here, too.
But merely to ask the question is to imply that the 60 million Americans who did not vote for Obama are being unpatriotic if they do not wholeheartedly endorse his liberal agenda.”
posted by Pat on
What really offends me, Pat, is the love and devotion that the media has for Obama. If McCain had won we would not be putting out with this disgusting outpouring of love.
Bobby, I’m not crazy about it either. I hope it dies down soon, and they get tough with Obama as they did for Bush.
posted by Patrick on
“Patrick, I’ve read two of her books and I read her weekly column. And she’s not anti-semitic”
I didn’t write have you read her books, I wrote have you ever listened to her. Live no ability to edit herself, she comes off as a harpie. I never wrote that she is anti-semitic. I wrote “when you say to someone of Jewish ancestry ” Read it like you are reading Mein Kamph” that qualifies as a harpie in my book” Comments like she made about Edwards, how she spoke to Edwards’ wife on live tv, ect. ect. she is a shrill harpie. Thats her “bag”. I wouldn’t call that brilliant.BTW you don’t seem to like to answer any questions you are asked, do you.
Why the caps, have you ever listened to her(I’m not talkin’ audio book here). Oh and here interview where she said the interviewer was wrong about Canada not being involved in the Vietnam war “I’ll get back to you on that” she never did. Or how about her response to Mike Huckbee saying he was not pro-gay ” HA! There was a Supreme Court decision you agreed with or disagreed with, I got you there Mike Huckabee!” OH yeah she really got him. BRILLIANT!
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