My message to the critics:

Chill. The. @!$%#. Out.

I'm not happy with the pick, either. Warren isn't a "moderate" Christian by any means. Most Christians who are famous enough to have any name recognition are not. But you can't expect Obama to shun all Evangelical Christians because of their absurd views. He's going to need their support in the future. Putting Warren in the spotlight during his inauguration is an easy way to show Christian America that he has a connection to their world.

The Obama camp has tried to respond to these charges by essentially saying, yes, Warren is a bigot, but he and Obama have quite a bit else in common. It won't make a difference. Rick Warren might have a stellar record in some areas, but his anti-gay views are self-inflicted stains on his own reputation.

I don't buy for a second that this is Obama's way of shunning all GLBT or atheist Americans. (He already has one gay woman in his Cabinet, he may choose another for a more prominent post, and his new Secretary of Education proposed a gay-friendly high school in Chicago.) I wouldn't be surprised if there was an atheist in the bunch, either. But true to form, they're not being open about that.