November 2, 2007

For Those Still Dismissing the Obama-McClurkin Flap, Paul Schindler Explains It All for You. Again.

Worth the full read at the link:

Obama Squanders the High Ground

[F]or LGBT Americans, the past week has been marked by Obama’s crushing of hope. And for every American concerned about the bitterness and divisiveness of our politics in the past generation, the episode raises troubling questions about whether the Illinois senator has the courage and grace to prove the uniter he postures to be.

In this issue and last, Doug Ireland reported in detail about Obama’s engagement of an “ex-gay” gospel singer and preacher as part of a vote push among evangelical African Americans in the critical early South Carolina primary.

Laying his years of active homosexuality to two childhood rapes, Donnie McClurkin has declared “war” against “the curse” of gay life. In an appearance on Pat Robertson’s “700 Club” several years ago, he said, “I’m in no mood to play with those who are trying to kill our children.”

Making a call about this guy should be easy. He’s a divider - an unusually ugly one at that. He’s got no place in a political campaign, certainly not one predicated on hope. …

What is equally troubling to me has been the defense by Obama since the controversy first exploded. He has dug in, deciding to weather the storm rather than back down. …

[T]o offer up Donnie McClurkin as a take-it-or-leave-it proposition, and then suggest that gay Americans unhappy at the prospect of him being a ringleader in Obama’s “big tent” are culturally insensitive is flat out wrong. It is clumsy. It is insulting. And it is cynical.

Posted by: Sapphocrat

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