Obama Pre-Inaugural Extravaganza Disses Bishop Gene Robinson

When it comes to inaugural prayers, the Obama team is challenged, to put it charitably. First, there was the flap over inviting the Reverend Rick Warren to pray because of his support of California's Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage. Undoubtedly to compensate, the President-elect then invited the Reverend Gene Robinson, the Kentucky native and first openly gay Episcopal bishop, to deliver a prayer at yesterday's pre-inaugural bash at the Lincoln Memorial.

That might have ended all the brouhaha, except that Robinson was scheduled to deliver his prayer 5 minutes before the HBO broadcast of the event commenced, and not only that, the sound system wasn't even turned on until after he had left the lectern. As a result, no one except God heard all of Robinson's vespers, and mostly only listeners of today's "Talk of the Nation" broadcast on National Public Radio have heard even a portion of what the Bishop had to say.

What the latest snafu by the Obama team means isn't exactly clear. Was yesterday's snub of Robinson yet another slight of gays, lesbians and transgenders by the incoming administration? Or was it simply a reflection of the fact that HBO did not give a rat's you-know-what about anything religious competing with the secular extravaganza staged before Lincoln's marble feet?

We certainly have come a long way from the days of the Reverend Billy Graham's inaugural prayers. But then again, he never had to compete with a Beyonce bounding to upstage him either.
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