Obama Follow-Up

A follow-up on the Obama/McClurkin controversy from Think On These Things, a pro-Obama site. It seems like a reasonable post, in the same way that the "moderate" left wing is "reasonable" -- which is simply to say that the conclusion is, predictably, "Why can't we all sit down and talk?"

One of the commenters gets it right:

Still, I’m unconvinced and unmoved by your attempted parallel. You cannot pray the gay away. There is nothing for me to say (and no way to “dialog”) with an “ex-gay” Preacher convinced he has all the answers and that I’m sinful and God abhors my “lifestyle” and I need to change something that’s as basic as my eye color in order to avoid eternal damnation. Were it a political position, we would have some room for discussion, but it is a religious doctrine, not subject to facts, science or reason.

I have no place at their table, and never will. They are not people I can compromise with.

The left has compromised itself almost out of existence. We see the results of this kind of compromise in the workings of Congress -- take the confirmation of Leslie Southwick as an example, and the fate of the FISA bill, still TBD -- as well as the general tone of discourse in this country. And yet the moderates keep coming back and saying "Do it to me again."

As for Obama and McClurkin -- there isn't a gospel singer in the country who is pro-gay, or at least neutral? You have to find someone who is preaching a message based on ignorance and prejudice, and then come up with a white preacher to preach tolerance to black people? Excuse me?

On this kind of stage, everything you do has a message -- that's a part of contemporary public discourse that tends to be overshadowed by the specifics, but there's no getting around it. That may be good or not (I tend toward not, but I'm not making up the rules), but it's there.

Let me lay it out very simply: by choosing McClurkin for this tour, Obama has offended the gay community. That's built-in. You can say the gay community is being over-sensitive, but you can't tell me that there were no alternatives. Now, by choosing a white minister to counter McClurkin, Obama has reinforced the anti-gay prejudice in the black community by giving the message that gay is a white man's disease. Again, there were alternatives. You can sit there and try to justify this all over the place and keep moaning that we need to sit down and talk, but until you can tell me how to talk to people who unilaterally declared war on me and who dont' recognize my right to exist, pardon me if I have reservations.

The question is, why should I continue to be reasonable? I'm not being met with reason, I'm being met with lies and distortions. Being reasonable is only a recipe for defeat, and this fight is too important.

So pardon me if I'm prepared to come out swinging.

(Via Andrew Sullivan, who calls it "a sane post." Kee-rist!)