timing is everything

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Jan 20, 2009

 As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama drew support from a broad range of voters, including people who embrace very different beliefs. Now, in the White House, he faces the challenge of holding that coalition together. It won't be easy. 

One clear indication of the difficulties that lie in store for President Obama came when he asked Pastor Rick Warren to pray at his Inauguration. Evangelical Christians who had supported Obama were delighted, but gay-rights advocates who had supported him felt betrayed. The solution? The Presidential Inauguration Committee (PIC) invited an avowedly gay Episcopalian bishop to say the prayer at a pre-inaugural event. 

But wouldn't those Evangelical supporters feel betrayed now, too? Yes, they would-- if they knew what was happening. However, 

Bishop of New Hampshire Gene Robinson gave his prayer, as set by the PIC, at 2:20 p.m. But, ooops, the HBO telecast was not set to begin until 2:30. That's when Barack Obama and his family came down the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. 

Inaugural organizers say that the timing of Bishop Robinson's prayer, vis-a-vis the time of Obama's arrival and the telecast, was coincidental.