Transcendental Invocation

This is an amazing article which puts into words my conflicted but optimistic feelings about the Warren pick. What I find so refreshing about it is that it was such a big surprise. And no one can quite understand why he did it and Obama ain't talking. Wow, a man with a plan. A man who doesn't make the safe or predictable choice. A man who we all connected with over the last two years and his message of change. A man with vision. Let the moment be what it will and see what happens.

Here are some cliff notes:
In fact, the predictable back-and-forth between left and right around this issue leads me in moments when my worser angels -- you know, the less-than-angelic angels -- of my nature have my ear to wonder whether or not we just got Souljahed out. Would Obama step on our tails to make us squeal in order to look "normal" to the pro-America parts of the country?

Another alternative: If the campaign revealed anything about the president-elect, it is his use of existing dynamics to his own advantage, knowing when to get out of the way of -- or lend a hand to -- Nature as she takes her course. The leaders of the religious right are far less dangerous to the rest of us when sniping among themselves. Could it be that, in elevating Warren so high above the rest, Obama has tossed an apple of discord over the right fence, a clever bait of distraction?

The sage Todd Gitlin urges us to voice our complaint and move on. But moving on doesn't move me. I want my transcendent moment. First, it seems, I'll have to transcend my damn self.

In an otherwise critical post, Guardian America editor Michael Tomasky warily suggests an outside chance that Warren's stance might change through the experience of calling the blessing on the Obama presidency:

Maybe having given this "Holocaust denier" [Obama] his high-profile blessing will require over time that Warren moderate his views and his public posture, and maybe that would lead some portion of his flock to do the same.

An artist friend who wished not to be named ("Call me Wes and keep me out of that mess!") took it one step further. "How do you know, Adele, that that moment, when that man is on that stage, lookin' out on all those people -- how do you know that will not be his transcendent moment? Think of all the people he could move."

From your lips, Wes, to the ears of all that is Divine. Divisions -- especially over what God wants us to do -- are rarely overcome with an argument or a handshake. That's why our better angels have wings; to help us rise above. Here's to transcendence all around.