Latter-day Saint Leaders to attend inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama
From the lds newsroom:
SALT LAKE CITY 16 January 2009 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will be represented at inaugural events for President-elect Barack Obama by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, second counselor in the First Presidency, and Elder M. Russell Ballard, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Continued
The two leaders, who have been asked to represent the Church by Church President Thomas S. Monson, are scheduled to attend the swearing-in ceremony on January 20 and the National Prayer Service at Washington’s National Cathedral on January 21.
“It is always an honor for the Church to be represented at the inauguration of a new president,” said President Monson. “We send our best wishes to President-elect Obama and pray for the blessings of a loving Father in Heaven to be upon him and his administration.”
Dana King, 45, volunteers in public affairs for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints -- St. Louis Missouri South Stake. She chairs the annual Discover Your Roots conference and serves on the Friends of Dred Scott committee. Dana is a contributor to outreach initiatives: knowyourneighbornet.org and BlackLDS.org. Dana is married, mother of two teens, and runs her interior design business. 
Why would they want to send someone to this? Sounds like a waste of money to me. They would be better off buying canned food for some poor then attending a ceremony for a man that has very little in common with their faith and teachings…
The answer to Tim’s question is one of political expediency and an attempt to whitewash the pre-1978 mess of theological statements written and uttered by LDS church leadership limiting African Americans. The more the current LDS community can distance itself from its inconsistent past, the more advantageous it is to their growth among a variety of races. All of this is roughly 1500 years after the fact that there have been three African popes (Victor I, Miltiades, Gelasius I). “Tu es Petrus et super hanc petram aedificabo Ecclesiam meam.”
I would think it really has more to do with reaching out to the new administration in an effort to build a strong relationship between the LDS church and Obama administration. I would guess that most organizations of this size, especially those with heavy social involvement, would want to build strong bridges between themselves and government. DJB, I think you missed the target on this one. Furthermore, it is worth noting that the LDS church has been represented at numerous inaugurations in the past, including the Mormon Tabernacle Choir specifically being included in multiple inaugural events.
That is exactly the point though Jim. What about Obama makes the Mormons feel compelled to build such a bridge? Because he is black? Politically he is about as far away from most organized religions as you can get…
Tim, I think it really has a lot more to do with him being the President than him being black or any other personal/political characteristic. The LDS church makes efforts to bridge these gaps and reach out the current administration no matter the political party of the President or his racial composition. If you look at past inaugurations and past administrations, the LDS church was very involved in building relationships with all sorts of Presidents, regardless of their political party and regardless of their cultural upbrining (or race–except this seems hard to show as all of our past presidents have been caucasian). I think the real goal is a genuine effort to form a solid respectful relationship with the government. Makes sense to me.