Reply #7: Picking Rick Warren Brilliant Because It Riles Up The Left?

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Picking Rick Warren Brilliant Because It Riles Up The Left?

By Greg Sargent - December 18, 2008, 10:01AM

The gang of pundits at First Read says the decision to have Rick Warren deliver the invocation at Obama's inauguration is brilliant politics, because it's getting the left to scream:

When Liberals Attack: Axelrod and Gibbs have to be smiling this morning with the news that gay-rights groups are angry that Obama has announced that conservative evangelical Rick Warren will give the invocation at Obama's inauguration. Why are they smiling? Because it never hurts -- at least when it comes to governing or running for re-election -- when you sometimes disappoint/anger your party's interest groups...

...when you look at the exit polls and see the large numbers of white evangelicals in swing states like North Carolina, Florida and Missouri, as well as emerging battlegrounds like Georgia and Texas, you'll understand what Obama's up to.

What about the question of whether it was, you know, the right thing to do? The conventions of mainstream political reporting and punditry simply don't allow for such a question to be entertained.

That aside, I'm with Steve Benen: Whatever short term political benefit this gives Obama is transitory at best, and it's easily outweighed by the downside: It gives an enormous platform, and the appearance of moderation, to someone whose views are radically out of step with Obama's -- things that can only help Warren when he opposes Obama's agenda on social issues for the rest of his presidency.