Some are claiming that Obama’s selection of Rick Warren to provide the invocation at his inauguration is providing the “first real rift with progressives” because of Rick Warren’s stance on same-sex marriages, with the Human Rights Campaign calling it a “genuine blow to the LGBT Americans.” The President-elect is getting some slack for picking Rick Warren, but many forget that Rick Warren got a lot of heat for inviting Barack Obama to his first World AIDS Day Summit on AIDS and the Church in December 2006.

The first serious notion of Barack Obama running for president in 2008 was picking up steam in the fall of 2006 with the success of his new book and flurry of campaign activity for mid-term Democrats. During this period, Rick Warren chose Senator Obama and Senator Brownback to represent their respective parties at his Global Summit on AIDS and the Church. Being active in global AIDS activism, I can tell you that the move came with risk for Rick Warren. Senator Obama had everything to gain with a chance to show-off his post-partisan appeal. But the Religious Right was itching for a chance to attack the surging new-kind-of-Democrat. And in deed, they did condemn the pastor and the event for hosting a pro-choice Democrat in their church with press releases and protests, and Rick Warren rightly defended and upheld his decision.

Now, the seats are reversed. After Proposition 8, the LGBT community is itching for an opportunity to attack.

This underscores the understandable emotions around serious issues such as abortion and homosexuality. But if we hope to make any difference in other serious issues, we are going to have to invite people we disagree with into our churches and celebrations – whether it be inviting a pro-choice Democrat into a church forum or an opponent of same-sex marriage pastor to an inauguration. Luckily, both President-elect Obama and Rick Warren embody this more than their respective predecessors.

What a memorable night. After the election was called for Barack Obama, a couple friends and I ventured over to the Lincoln Memorial – by far my favorite monument that commemorates the last president elected from Illinois and the steps from which Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his historic “I Have a Dream” speech.

It was a quiet, solemn setting. While thousands were block away celebrating outside the White House, there were only a dozen strangers gathered. Luckily a man brought a radio. We gathered around it to hear our new president’s acceptance speech.

Through the course of the speech, our group of a dozen grew to around fifty. It was amazing to look around into the teary eyes of these strangers, as many of them held each other and cried with one another.

Afterwards, a young African American guy who showed up looked over at me and said, “I just feel like hugging someone I don’t know.” Later I thought about how I grew up in a world where I could become anything I wanted to, even president of the United States. That’s probably not the world he grew up in, and I was envious of all the emotions he must now be experiencing.

P.S. It turns out a photographer from the New York Times reflected on this same experience, as well as a blogger at Sojourners.

By the way, look at my life now:

The current map:
Obama 311, McCain 155, Toss-Ups 72

How to watch the election tonight:

Obama will likely carry all of the Kerry and Gore states, giving him 264 electoral votes (270 votes needed to win). Because Pennsylvania is so hotly contested, his most solid blues make up 243 electoral votes.

His narrowest victory should include carrying Colorado, Nevada, and Virginia. (total: 291 electoral votes)

His next wave would be Florida and Ohio. (total: 338 electoral votes) Current polls show Florida tighter than Ohio.

If Obama has a big night, he may start dipping into Indiana, Missouri, and North Carolina. (375 electoral votes).

A real big landslide would include Montana, North Dakota, and up to two districts in Nebraska. (383 electoral votes) But the mac-daddy of all would be surprise wins in Georgia and Arizona. (408 electoral votes with McCain at 130)

It is also becoming clear that John McCain may have doubts his selection. Both candidates seem to be writing off their chances in 2008 and are now setting their sites on 2012. John McCain surely won’t run again, but he can try to undo what he started. And indeed, he may have fired first in the current war in the press. Three prominent moderate leaders have made public statements to undermine Palin’s legitimacy.

Moderate Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger said Palin wasn’t ready to be president, but would be before sworn in. And Tom Ridge, former governor of Pennsylvania who was disqualified for the VP nod because he is pro-choice, said McCain had to win his home state in order to win the presidency and that if he were selected things would look much different. Most damning of all, though, pointedly said, “Thank God she’s not going to have to be president from day one.”

Taken individually, these seem like gaffes that only undermine any chance of a John McCain come back. But collectively, one wonders if McCain is allowing his allies to undermine Palin’s opportunity to blame him for their upcoming electoral loss and reestablish herself as the frontrunner for 2012.

But frontrunner she is not. If there’s any doubt that the race to 2012 hasn’t already begun, Newsweek was nice enough to release our very first poll of who Republicans would support for the 2012 Republican nomination. The winner: Mitt Romney with 35%, then Mike Huckabee with 26% and Sarah Palin with 20%.

According to CNN, debate watchers say Obama won by a margin of 58-31. 40 percent of these watchers were Democrats (37% of America currently leans Democrat) and 30 percent were Republican (27% of America is Republican). If you assumed these folks each sided with their nominee, Obama would have won the middle by an 18-1 margin. Not good for the candidate who is behind 6-14 points in the polls.

So where is the election today? On October 7, Obama had an 85% probability of winning 269 electoral votes (270 needed to win) and McCain had 150. Today:

This says something about Obama’s campaign, but it says a lot about the Millennial Generation. Supposedly, Millennials are the first civic-minded generation since the GI Generation of World War II. But with this election, Millennials might actually be the leaders and first movers of the political dialogue. Below are some funny video clips to demonstrate how Obama and other groups are encouraging young people to influence the votes of their parents and grandparents… as well as some anecdotal evidence that it might be working with older Jewish voters in Florida.

And check out this CNN article… this kid pitches his grandparents in Florida on Obama and it leads to him giving a talk to more than 100 seniors in their retirement community. Best quote from his pitch:

As Bender told the crowd that Obama was not a Muslim and that Obama was a staunch supporter of Israel, he was met with heads nodding in agreement throughout the room. However, Bender felt the need to drive the point further. If Obama was elected, he said, then Bender would not worry so much about politics and “would have more time to find a nice Jewish girl to marry.”

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/13/great.schlep/index.html