I am sure it was the Obama's who were calling the shots...

Desiree Rogers wanted to junk White House creche

From Mommylife.net:
I guess the most surprising thing about this is that the creche did end up being displayed. Desiree Rogers is the one responsible for the unparalleled glitz and glamor - skyrocketing cost and lapses in traditional protocol - of the Obama White House. Lately in the news for refusing to testify before Congress about the party-crashing couple - claiming "executive privilege."

No room for Jesus at the P.C. White House

Sunday December 6, 2009

Very nearly. From the New York Times' piece today on WH social secretary Desiree Rogers:

"What do we want the personality and the tone of the experience to be?" Ms. Rogers asked in an interview earlier this year, describing the Obamas' philosophy. "We want it to be inclusive, diverse, representative of all Americans, celebratory, authentic. So you sit and you say, O.K., how can we make this event" -- and here, Ms. Rogers paused for a moment, adding, "Obama-tized."

But Washington is a city that likes its traditions, and Ms. Rogers has raised a few eyebrows by trying to bend them. When former social secretaries gave a luncheon to welcome Ms. Rogers earlier this year, one participant said, she surprised them by suggesting the Obamas were planning a "non-religious Christmas" -- hardly a surprising idea for an administration making a special effort to reach out to other faiths.

The lunch conversation inevitably turned to whether the White House would display its crèche, customarily placed in a prominent spot in the East Room. Ms. Rogers, this participant said, replied that the Obamas did not intend to put the manger scene on display -- a remark that drew an audible gasp from the tight-knit social secretary sisterhood. (A White House official confirmed that there had been internal discussions about making Christmas more inclusive and whether to display the crèche.)

Yet in the end, tradition won out; the executive mansion is now decorated for the Christmas holiday, and the crèche is in its usual East Room spot.

This is a crazy-making thing about progressives. The Obamas really do seem to be cut off from the way normal people think and feel, as opposed to the academic liberal social elite. Only a former Chicago law professor and his circle would have the idea that the American people would welcome exiling a creche from Christmas decorations at the White House (for that matter, only someone from that rarefied social circle would see no problem with putting a porny weirdo like Kevin Jennings in as deputy education secretary). The idea of the Obamas planning a "non-religious Christmas" is asinine and offensive. Do they really think non-Christians would somehow feel better if the White House didn't display a creche at Christmas? If you are so thin-skinned that you can't sleep at night over the idea that the president and his family, professed Christians, are displaying a creche in the White House, then you need to get over yourself.

Read more at Beliefnet.

Though Ron calls the Obamas "professed Christians," I have not seen a shred of evidence that they are Christian at all. They've been to church twice since taking office. Obama was the first president to ignore National Prayer Day, yet released a presidential statement in recognition of the Hajj - the annual pilgrimage of Muslims to Mecca (which his Kenyan grandmother made with the help of the Saudi King).

Though Obama conveniently called together the "Religious Left" to get support for the government being our brother's keeper, he has otherwise studiously avoided Christianity - even being the first American president to omit the name of God from his Thanksgiving message. . And while we were forbidden during his presidential campaign to bring up his Muslim roots, Obama has been far from shy about proclaiming them loudly at home and abroad. See: Obama's Muslim roots may explain Fort Hood non-response.

Love,