The Gist

Obama and the Phobes

It is the details in this story that we discussed a lot on the show today and earlier in the week. Yet another homophobic minister connected to Obama. This time, the pastor, Kirbyjon Caldwell, who is George W. Bush's spiritual advisor, says he didn't know that his church supported an ex-gay ministry.

Whatever the truth is about Caldwell, we're once again talking about Obama's connections to homophobes literally days after he made commendable remarks to a black audience while commemorating Dr. Martin Luther King, saying, "We have scorned our gay brothers and sisters instead of embracing them."

So, in tolerating the homophobes is Obama "reaching out," in a new kind of politics, as some people on the show today suggested? Or is it grade-A pandering, as I've maintained, just like the kind we've known for years from many politicians?