On Being “Disagreeable”

~~By kenosha Marge

I seldom listen to anything Obama has to say, perhaps because he seldom has anything to say. Political rhetoric is not worth my time or effort. Spare me the high-flying phrases and simplify all our lives by saying something of substance.

We know this will not happen. What savvy politician would actually say something substantive when his adoring fans don’t require it from him? The adolescent mindset of a good share of our population annoys and at the same time scares the hell out of me. Is this what much of humanity has become, perpetual adolescents screaming for Elvis or the Beatles?

Since the Rick Warren controversy began there is no escaping what passes for an explanation from President-elect Barack Obama. His advertising agency phrase about being able to “disagree without being disagreeable”  is played endlessly on television. Perhaps because the big Zero is off in Hawaii on vacation and thus the poor, pathetic 24-hour news folks didn’t have anything else to run.

“Disagree without being disagreeable,”  for some reason that utterly puerile phrase, one among many, stuck in my craw. I wondered if the wordsmith extraordinaire Favreau took time out from groping cardboard cutouts to write that phase. Inquiring minds and all that.

I intend to be very disagreeable about Rick Warren. He is the happy face the Obama Administration has chosen to put on bigotry. Our lefty friends tell us he isn’t as bad as Falwell or Pat Robertson. Sorry,  lefty friends,  but I find it simply amazing that you now are willing to settle for someone who isn’t as bad as whoever. Not being as bad as is a sad little excuse not worthy of adults. Damn, there we are back at the adolescent mindset.

I have a new yardstick for what I find tolerable these days. I ask myself would I accept this Warren fellow if George Bush chose him? Would I find his folksy manner acceptable if he was the choice at a Republican Inauguration? In other words, would I be as accepting if we weren’t talking about a Democrat? Because if you are willing to make excuses for a Democrat that you wouldn’t make for a Republican then it’s not about choice or character or about bigotry so much as it is about partisanship. And hypocrisy.

Beneath the benevolent corpulence of Rick Warren beats the heart of a misogynistic, homophobic, creationist. Not someone you could believe would have a place of honor at the Inauguration of a Democratic President. Not someone you would expect liberals to embrace. Not someone acceptable to the progressive community.

Au contraire,  mes amis! Our lefty friends are working so hard to keep from being annoyed with PEBO that they are abandoning or ignoring every belief they ever had. PEBO wants to give a religious bigot a place of honor at his inauguration? Fine and dandy. He’s just trying to bring all those nasty fundamentalists that want to deny civil rights to other citizens on board the Soul Train. Women can board so long as they are submissive to their husbands. Gee whiz folks, sure lacks something I looked for in a progressive movement. Like progress maybe?

How about this from “Not Your Sweetie” about Rick Warren:   Women Obots in Shock: Warren Hates Women Too?

Take marriage. At his Saddleback Church, wifely submission is official doctrine: The church website tells women to defer to their husband’s “leadership” even when he’s wrong on important issues, such as finances

Never mind if she’s an accountant and he flunked long division, or if she wants to beef up the kids’ college fund and he wants to buy shares in the Brooklyn Bridge. The godly answer is supposed to be “yes, dear.” Is elevating this male chauvinist how President-elect Obama thanks women, who gave him more than half his votes?

According to PEBO and his suppine supporters we should all just hold hands with Regressive Religious Bigots like Warren because we can disagree without being disagreeable.

Maybe they can do so. I cannot. Some things in my creed are not subject to negotiation. I don’t choose to make nice with bigots. I don’t choose to play well with others when the others are smiling purveyors of evil.

In my world Rick Warren for all his bonhominie and pretense of being a good Christian is an evil man. I consider all bigots evil. Those that would restrict the civil rights of some citizens will always make my list of evildoers. A Democratic President-elect is honoring this man at his inauguration? I can find nothing in this fact to be agreeable about. I can find nothing hopeful in this. And so, I do not intend to be agreeable.