"Obama is not inviting Rick Warren to his church, or into his campaign, or something," she said. "He's inviting him to the nation's capital to convene the swearing in of the next President of the United States. The President-elect did not invite Warren to his home--he invited him, proverbially, to ours--the nation's."

"It begs the question," she went on, "as to whether Obama thinks the right spiritual clarion for the nation to start his presidency is from a man who has been so immoderate in taking up his position in the culture war, Comparing gay relationships to child abuse is an admittedly strange model of 'civility,' but that's his point."

She closed: "We're left with the cold, hard political fact that this is a lose-lose proposition for Barack Obama, the first big mistake of his post-election politicking...When human rights activists look back decades--centuries from now on the first presidential inauguration of an African-American, [landmark achievement], won't they be thinking, 'What a great moment...but what was that guy who compared homosexuality to incest doing there?'"