Barack Obama is finding out that his honeymoon with the mainstream media may be considerably shorter than he had expected. Inviting Pastor Rick Warren to pray at his inauguration hasn't endeared him to a core constituency and now Time Magazine has joined in the bash fest. Its Web site carries the piece, "The Problem for Gays with Rick Warren — and Obama." Authored by John Cloud, the article begins by citing Warren's criticisms of homosexuality and then clobbers Obama for his association with him:
Gays and lesbians are angry that Barack Obama has honored Warren, but they shouldn't be surprised. Obama has proven himself repeatedly to be a very tolerant, very rational-sounding sort of bigot. He is far too careful and measured a man to say anything about body parts fitting together or marriage being reserved for the non-pedophilic, but all the same, he opposes equality for gay people when it comes to the basic recognition of their relationships. He did throughout his campaign, a campaign that featured appearances by Donnie McClurkin, a Christian entertainer who preaches that homosexuals can become heterosexuals.
But if, as asserted by Time, Obama has repeatedly shown he's a bigot, why did he capture so much of the gay vote? As noted by the Windy City Media Group and other activist outlets, in some gay districts Obama won close to 90 percent of the vote over John McCain. Surely gay voters, usually described as being above-average in education and wealth, would not have been fooled by an obvious bigot.
NewsBusters managing editor Ken Shepherd has pointed out that Obama also extended an invitation to Rev. Joseph Lowery, who ardently supports gay rights, to give the benediction at the inaugural. Obviously, that is insufficient atonement for inviting Warren.
Obama's action could well be a ploy, intended to modestly placate conservatives and moderates as he prepares to govern from the Left. In the meantime, it appears as though he'll have to withstand some withering criticism from his temporarily spurned sweethearts in the mainstream media. Perhaps he can take comfort in Shakespeare: "The course of true love never did run smooth."
