Left's Reaction to Rick Warren Helps President-Elect Obama on the Right

By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country

It's unanimous. Forty-four of you have responded to my post asking whether the Rev. Rick Warren will invoke Jesus's name in his inauguration invocation for President-elect Barack Obama, and every one of you hopes he will.

No one offered an argument for Warren taking a more ecumenical route.

Many commenters, meanwhile, give Obama props for enlisting Warren to offer the prayer at the inauguration, lending support for my theory that this is a political masterstroke, despite opposition from the gay community and from many liberal quarters. Or maybe because of it.

Anita of California writes:

I am very glad and I support his decision on having Rick in charge of the prayer. The same way they want to be respected they should respect Pastor Warren and our future President! I'm proud of you Mr. Obama!

In an ecumenical spirit, Dan of New Hampshire writes:

I fully support Barack Obama's decision (even though I voted for McCain) to allow Rick Warren to lead the prayer and he should mention Jesus' name—just as I would support a Jewish President who asked a Rabbi to lead prayer or a Muslim President to Pray to Allah.

And someone identifying as "For Christ" in New York reacts to all the blowback Obama's been getting from his own base over the Warren pick:

I can't believe people are getting upset at Obama for choosing Rick Warren to give the inauguration prayer. He's a pastor and his job is to spread and live by God's Word. God's Word CLEARLY states that homosexuality is a sin.

Whether or not you believe that, it's becoming clear that Obama is getting more credit from some conservative Christians for picking Warren now that the president-elect has had to stand by the decision in the face of the liberal furor. The left is helping Obama with the right. The political benefits keep coming on this one.

• Read more about Rick Warren's invocation.
• Read more by Dan Gilgoff.