Barack Obama and Rick Warren

I have no fondness for Pastor Warren, but I totally understand this strategy from our future President and I think it's more than a ploy. If you want people to understand your position and have any respect for you at all, you have to bring them into your fold, and it's so obvious that Obama is one of those people who could find some kind of value in sitting down for a beer with almost anyone.

It's the smart move. If democrats and religious progressives like myself ever hope to be understood by the religious right, we have to talk to them. We can't all keep playing this game where when I'm in charge you're shut out and when you're in charge I am.

I am encouraged, like some kind of Libra, that this man keeps his friends close and his enemies closer and that he shows deference and respect for people whose views are very different from his own. We need this kind of dispassionate, reasoned, rational approach. Someone from any part of the spectrum may be the one with the bright idea. It'd be a shame to miss it because of ideology.