Gene Robinson to Speak at Inauguration Festivities

[QC]

I am writing to tell you that President-Elect Obama and the Inaugural Committee have invited me to give the invocation at the opening event of the Inaugural Week activities, "We are One," to be held at the Lincoln Memorial, Sunday, January 18, at 2:00 pm. It will be an enormous honor to offer prayers for the country and the new president, standing on the holy ground where the "I have a dream speech" was delivered by Dr. King, surrounded by the inspiring and reconciling words of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. It is also an indication of the new president's commitment to being the President of ALL the people. I am humbled and overjoyed at this invitation, and it will be my great honor to be there representing the Episcopal Church, the people of New Hampshire, and all of us in the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community.

+Gene

http://revjph.blogspot.com/2009/01/man-with-plan-or-man-who-learns-by-his.html

[Ian David]

1. "And dear god, may you strike Rev. Warren dead right now, as we watch and applaud."

It's probably for the best that President Obama has not asked me to give the invocation.

[Laughing Mirror]

2. I would go to this willingly

But I would not get up off the electric chair to go stand out in the freezing cold for hours to hear a Saddleback con-artist speak. Even for two minutes.

[bluedawg12]

3. Excellent!

[TechBear_Seattle]

4. Wasn't Warren giving the invocation?

Is Robinson replacing Warren, will there be two invocations, or is Warren doing something different?

[TechBear_Seattle]

5. Oops, never mind. Different event altogether

Robinson will be "opening the weekend," ie relegated to something unimportant. It will still be Warren standing on the podium with hundreds of millions of people tuned in to watch Obama take the Oath of Office.

[LostinVA]

6. Bingo -- "Robinson will be "opening the weekend," ie relegated to something unimportant."

[MADem]

7. This is sop to the very, very angry. He's tossing a bone to "those gay folks."

The downside: It's a gesture he's making only BECAUSE a bunch of people crawled up his ass about Warren.

The upside: He at least heard the people crawling up his ass about Warren.

He's trying to split the diff, in essence. It's not equivalent. It's an acknowledgement that his choice of Warren pissed people off, but it doesn't erase the Warren gaffe.