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Ezra Klein made a similar observation about the inclusion of Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson who is to deliver the Sunday invocation on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
This is, incidentally, why it's useful for progressives to criticize the president. Politicians respond to incentives. To noise. To anger. Warren, on some level, was a response to the loud protestations of evangelicals who believed the Democratic Party had no place for them. It's hard to see Robinson is anything but a response to progressive activists who sense that Obama was more willing to risk cross those who supported him than those who opposed him. Erase the anger from either side and it's not worth Obama -- or any president -- taking the risk to placate them. But this is a step in the right direction. This is genuinely inclusive. If it was the plan all along, the Obama administration sure did a good job keeping the secret. And if it wasn't, then equality activists have something to be proud of this morning. They changed the incentives.
[Emphasis mine.]
http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/ezraklein_archive?month=01&year=2009&base_name=openly_gay_bishop_to_deliver_i
