Obama and Liberals

Barack Obama's selection of evangelical pastor Rick Warren to give the Invocation at Obama's inauguration is only the latest sign that our president-elect is not interested in placating liberals at the expense of everyone else. I say this as a liberal who disagrees with Warren in the same ways that Obama does. It has been well established that President Bush considers himself to be the president of the people who voted for him, not the populace as a whole. Obama doesn't think this way. He is respectful of those who disagree with him, and not simply because it's a nice thing to do. It is strategically smart, in the long run, to court individuals whose views are quite different from your own. This is how you build consensus around the most important issues.