In staffing the top posts of his imminent administration, Barack Obama has stolen the mantle of “maverick” and proved himself to be not only smart, but clever.

His foreign policy and economic teams may be packed with veterans – even Old Schoolers – but his choices to lead the labor, energy, housing and education departments are brilliantly inspired.

This bodes well for the offer of change and for hopes that the promised “new day” means a new way of approaching resistant problems that are hardest on the poor and working class.

Maybe now American workers really have a chance at reclaiming their dignity, job security, wage fairness and opportunities for advancement.

Maybe now the U.S. will actually take some responsibility for and control of global warming, and we’ll see some real strides toward breaking the confiscatory addiction to foreign oil.

Maybe now affordable housing will bloom across the landscape, and subsidized housing will no longer be synonymous with “rat hole.”

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Maybe the public schools will get some real muscle beneath them, rather than flimsy schemes like vouchers and the draconian rules of No Child Left Behind, which set up a structure that focuses on failure.

Given the intelligent, provocative choices he has made otherwise, it is hard to understand why Obama chose Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at his inauguration ceremony next month. 

It’s understandable that Warren’s name was in the mix. As pastor of an evangelical flock that is said to be the fourth largest congregation in the country and as author of, among other titles, “The Purpose Driven Life,” which has sold tens of millions of copies, Warren is a redoubtable super star in the American clerical constellation. Not to mention that he hosted televised discussions with Obama and John McCain at the peak of the general election campaign.

But Warren is more than popular and influential. He is also controversial, having helped lead this year’s fight for Proposition 8, which installed a ban on same-sex marriage in California’s state constitution.

The gay community is livid about Obama’s invitation to Warren to join him on the Capitol steps on Jan. 20 to pray over the new chief executive and his administration. Gay activists and their sympathizers point out that they gave Obama a pass when he came out against gay marriage – supporting civil unions instead – and voted for him overwhelmingly.

Why extend such an honor to someone who helped denigrate, deny and outlaw their right to make legally recognized, monogamous commitments to the consenting adult of their choice? The right to marry, after all, is serious, heavy duty, emotional and personal stuff. What’s the state doing in it?

In the dust-up over Obama’s invitation and Warren’s subsequent acceptance, one charitable pundit noted that the president-elect is so deeply insightful that he would have foreseen that the Warren choice would get people riled up and probably welcomed it as an opportunity to “have a dialogue” about same-sex marriage and the passions for and against it.

That would be fine if we had elected the next president, or any prior one, to serve as a facilitator for national group therapy sessions to provoke us out of our deep-rooted silences and hang-ups.

But, presidents are elected to provide answers, not raise questions, and they are expected to lead, not float trial balloons to see where they land.

Besides, the Warren selection has not enticed us to .....

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