Plenty of mail about the Rick Warren/Guess Who’s Coming To The Inaugural affair, and none of it ambiguous. The following comes from longtime reader Ann, who passed on a letter she wrote directly to the Obama team in protest:

Hi VDB,

I feel like ranting to someone, so please forgive this email. You don’t even have to read it — I just need to get it off my chest before I can actually get any work done!

I just sent the following email to the Obama/Biden transition team:

“I am writing to express my deep disappointment at the choice of Rick Warren to deliver the inaugural invocation. As a supporter of full civil rights for women and members of the gay and lesbian communities, I believe this choice demonstrates a desire to marginalize groups that were among the President-Elect’s strongest supporters. I made several small donations to the campaign, which I now regret.

“It never occurred to me that among all the religious leaders in the United States, the President-Elect would choose an anti-choice pastor who espouses homophobic views and has actually advocated the assassination of the head of a foreign government.

“Mr. Warren has equated people of faith who support social justice with being Marxists and supporters of abortion rights with the perpetrators of the Holocaust. I am deeply saddened at Mr. Obama’s decision to validate these views by asking Mr. Warren to deliver the invocation.

“I can only speculate what this choice says about the President-Elect’s priorities for his administration. Certainly, it makes me much less sanguine about Mr. Obama’s commitment to social justice and civil rights for all Americans.”

Part of what pisses me off about this choice is that I don’t even think it can be supported on the basis of political pragmatism. Assisting Rick Warren’s goal of having his views accepted as reflective of mainstream social values will make it much more difficult for the democrats to distinguish themselves as anything other than Republican lite.

This arguably will make it easier to sink liberal supreme court nominees, in that Obama’s choice to represent people of faith mainstreams the views of the right.

I’m already disappointed at Leahy’s decision to delay confirmation hearings for Holder. If the democrats don’t think they have a mandate that lets them control the agenda, then they never will. Just let Obama try and win a second term without pro-choice women and the gay community.

I suppose he’s counting on our support, under the assumption that the Republican choice will be worse.

Meanwhile, Cheney has publicly admitted to war crimes, and there’s not a hint that he or anyone else in the administration will be investigated, much less prosecuted.

Aaarrggh,

Ann