Opinion: In today’s pages
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The state budget proposed by California Democrats is convoluted and legally sneaky, the editorial board decides, but at least it’s a budget. Less obstructionism in Sacramento might actually get the state one of those. The board also praises the U.S. Commerce Department for its surprising decision to reject the proposed Foothill South toll road through San Onofre State Beach and advises the agency that wants to build the road to stop fighting environmentalists and work with them to find a new route.
And you don’t have to be a fan of superstar pastor Rick Warren--who endorsed Proposition 8--to accept Barack Obama’s decision to have the Orange County church leader give the invocation at the inauguration, the board editorializes. History shows that presidents often pick religious figures they disagree with on a number of issues:
Finally, Warren is among a group of younger evangelicals who, without renouncing traditional views about abortion and sexuality, have expanded their mission to include environmental stewardship and efforts to eradicate poverty and AIDS. It’s because of such views that Obama can credibly include him in his effort to bring Americans together despite differences about social issues.
On the other side of the fold, writer Harold Meyerson praises Rep. Hilda Solis, a Democrat from the Los Angeles area, as a gutsy politician who will make a fine U.S. Labor Secretary. And Joel Stein takes issue with the Anti-Defamation League about a new poll showing that most Americans don’t think Hollywood is dominated by Jews. That’s not a sign of Americans’ unwillingness to stereotype, he writes, but rather a sign of their ignorance.
Illustration by Clay Bennett/Chattanooga Times Free Press