I suppose it's ok to be "a little bit racist" now.  I'll stop being offended when I hear a racist joke -- I'll simply consider it another view.  (And that is snark.)

8 years of Bush has given Obama more than enough material to have a bang up speech. Whether he or his people believe it, the  Democrat's put him in the White House, not the Rick Warren's or McConnell's of the country. The country wants and needs strong decisive leadership, not someone who weighs every decision by the vote.

Shouldn't President-Elect Obama be showcasing Democratic viewpoints and values as an indication to the country and world of the change he's going to bring from the last 8 years?

If only Obama were actually a committed Democrat. His "post-partisanship" was billed as the CHANGE, and apparently, the rest of us who wanted something different (like real, live change) have been told to go scr*w ourselves once again. And it will keep happening over the next four years.

Shouldn't President-Elect Obama be showcasing Democratic viewpoints and values as an indication to the country and world of the change he's going to bring from the last 8 years?

My first answer to this question is "Yes, of course." But another answer would be that Obama, as president, will be serving all the American people, so it's not a bad idea, as a general rule, for him to make common cause where he can in a responsible way and avoid demonstrations of gratuitous partisanship.

What I particularly dislike are the writings defending Obama's choice, saying he must have a secret plan to reach out to evangelicals or something (like they're reachable).

As Democrats, I think we are all committed to listening and discussing and considering, but speaking for myself, it isn't an exercise I engage in to persuade myself that maybe those on the other side are right - it's an exercise I engage in - taking all the twists and turns - in the hope that others will be persuaded that we are, in fact, right.

I get the uncomfortable feeling from Obama that he isn't always sure where he wants to come down on a particular issue - or if he wants to commit to a position at all.  It's like he thinks there is some place, in all issues, where all sides can agree, and he is committed to finding that place, even if in doing so he is abandoning what should be core values and beliefs, and even if it means that, in the end, no one is really happy with the result.

Some things ARE worth fighting for, ARE worth drawing a line in the sand over, but Obama is going to have to be dragged off the above-it-all platform from which he observes the messier aspects of democracy and forced to actually BE a leader.  I have little confidence that he has that in him - it's just not where he is comfortable.

Tell me then Obama

Have we gained anything from your stupid Harry & Louise mailers and golden mean healthcare ad?

Have we gained anything from your willingness to take up RW talking points on Social Security?

Are we going to gain something from Rick Warren being at your inauguration?

Republicans forget everything and oppose us as soon as we try to make changes on the economy and healthcare and social issues.  They do not care.

But I don't feel troubled by the reaction at all.  I don't feel, as I sometimes do, that people are blowing this all out of proportion.  In fact it all seems perfectly reasonable to me.

One point that this highlights is that Obama hasn't built up a whole lot of political capital with certain constituency groups, GLBT voters being one of them.  He's made some gestures, sure, but he's still relatively new to the scene and generally it's a long process to develop trust to the point where people know, hey I may not end up doing 100% of what you want me to do, but you know I'm fundamentally on your side.  It's an intangible thing that you don't acquire just by checking off the right boxes on a candidate questionnaire, it takes hard work to build those relationships.

Why he thinks it's o.k. to basically make that same argument about homophobes and thinks he can get away with it is really beyond me.  He deserves to be booed resoundingly at his inauguration.  Or the GLBT folks in the crowd should stage a giant kiss-in.

I am SO glad I voted my conscious and wrote in Hillary's name.  Chelsea and Rob Reiner came to all the gay bars in Dallas and ASKED us for our vote.

I'm not gonna defend Warren, nor the choice to have him.  But at the same time, there's a bit of forgetfulness over what Obama is on the record as saying.

He's also said he doesn't agree with gay marriage.  That said though, I must state that I don't agree with civil marriage, period.  Civil unions for all...if you want to get married, go to church, or temple, or wherever.  But everyone should get the SAME rights in a licensed civil union.  Marriage, so obviously a cultural and religious thing, should be relegated to religious arenas.  

It's a free country.  But if President Johnson had asked a preacher who had just recently told all his minions to get out and fight against the Civil Rights Act to give the invocation at his inaugural in 1964, I guess we'd a' thought he was nuts.  What's more, we'd think he wasn't too serious in his support for civil rights.

LINK

President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden have officially invited the Lesbian and Gay Band Association to march in the Inaugural Parade. One of the association's web sites reports that the group will also march in September as part of the homosexual "Southern Decadence" festival infamous for its public lewd acts.

[...]

"I am honored to invite these talented groups and individuals to participate in the Inaugural Parade," said President-elect Obama.  "These organizations embody the best of our nation's history, diversity and commitment to service. Vice President-elect Biden and I are proud to have them join us in the parade."

And this bit is odd, don't ask don't tell?

Organizations wishing to participate in the parade reportedly submitted an application to the Armed Forces Inaugural Committee, which assisted the Presidential Inaugural Committee in reviewing applications. Experienced military musicians evaluated the presentation skills of marching bands, musical acts, and drill teams.

Obama and his entourage are clever politicians, but too clever by half. They calculate that they can move as far to the right as they like, because the official American "left" has nowhere else to go and, in any case, no stomach for opposing such a trajectory.

It's perfectly true that the Nation editorial board, officials of People for the American Way and many well-heeled gay rights advocates will never break from the Democratic Party. In the end, these elements will rationalize and explain away every reactionary measure taken by the Obama administration--they are bound to the Democrats by class interest, defenders all of the profit system.

The mass of the American people, however, is another matter. They have no interest in sticking with the Democrats. Seeing Obama for what he is, a venal and dishonest representative of the American financial and corporate elite, will be an essential political experience and open up the floodgates.