Obama, Sec. Clinton Speak at National Prayer Breakfast

February 5, 2010 — President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and other policymakers and religious leaders on Thursday spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast about various issues involving faith and politics, the Washington Post reports. During his remarks, Obama discussed the "erosion of civility" in Washington politics, saying, "Those of us in Washington are not serving the people as well as we should." He added, "At times, it seems like we're unable to listen to one another, to have at once a serious and civil debate" (Fletcher, Washington Post, 2/5).

Obama also denounced a controversial anti-homosexuality bill currently under consideration in the Ugandan legislature. He said that it is "unconscionable to target gays or lesbians for who they are," adding that the bill is "odious" (CNN [1], 2/4). According to MSNBC's "The Rachel Maddow Show," Clinton also criticized the bill during her remarks, saying that religion "is used as a club to deny the human rights of girls and women from the Gulf to Africa to Asia, and to discriminate -- even advocating the execution of gays and lesbians" (Maddow, "The Rachel Maddow Show," MSNBC, 2/4). CNN reports that Clinton also expressed a personal preference for adoption over abortion and told the audience a story of opening a home for children born as a result of unintended pregnancies (CNN [2], 2/4).

During an appearance on Maddow's show, Bishop Gene Robinson said that he is "so glad" that Obama and Clinton "took this opportunity to highlight" the issues involved with the Ugandan legislation. He said that lesbian women "are almost routinely raped in order to cure them of their homosexuality" ("The Rachel Maddow Show," MSNBC, 2/4).

Former University of Florida football player Tim Tebow, who has been in the spotlight over an antiabortion-rights Super Bowl commercial for Focus on the Family, delivered the closing prayer at the event (CNN [2], 2/4).