Stay true to the dreams of thy youth

1 comments:

Bruce Kratky said...

I agree with the author that this is not James Dobson's best moment. Yet, looking at Dobson's entire life and its work I conclude that he is one of the "good guys." He walks a fine line. As I told Emily in an email on this same matter, Dobson is not a politician, he is an activist. His positions are solid. When he takes on a politician the politician can and must have it both ways. Dobson can not and often Dobson can be painted in a negative light. That being said, Obama certainly had excellent points to make regarding Christians needing to meet the secular world more on the world's terms. Appeals to reason are not only necessary, they are the only thing. I think that Dobson took Obama's remarks as condescending in light of the fact that Focus on the Family does research to the extreme, and has engaged in rational discussion about the rights of the unborn on constitutional and sonographic terms for decades. Dobson may have felt patronized by his organization being compared to Al Sharpton. Obama implied that Focus is as lunie right as Sharpton is left. (Focus has never had a Tiwana Brawely moment). Humm. Is that fair? Also, the left has painted the Focus organization as being "fundementalist" in the mold of those Islamic fundementalist who fly airplanes into skyscrapers. At the same time Obama backers have done everything they can to silence the abortion debate as it is uncomfortable for them. That you can not picket outside a clinic without risking your physical freedom and being convicted using the RICO laws is part of Dobson's legitimate issue. That legislation came from the far left, which Obama is undoubtedly part of. This is a major First Amendment violation of the right to free speech. It is a terror tactic to silence "religiously and constitutionally" motivated people. Obama supports that terror...in Dobson's rational view. Also, Mr. Obama talks eloquently about logic and reason and religion's rightful place in our nation's discourse. He also claims to be a "man of faith" which in our nation has long captured many votes for many different types from divergent political camps. However, deep within Dobson's challenge (though poorly put) is the issue of "faith in what?" Having faith is about as meaningful a philosophical statement as "all politicians need a drink of water sometime during the course of a given day." We exercise faith in chairs, automatic doors, stoplights, and our fellow drivers every day of our lives. Faith, undefined, is ubiquitous. In American historic culture "faith" has meant being a "Christian." But, what is a Christian if anyone can claim to be one yet not accept and follow the words of Jesus Christ. Dobson's point with Mr. Obama is that to claim the mantle of "Christ Follower" and yet not vote to ban partial birth abortions is tantemount to being "The Wolf" in sheep's clothing. Mr. Dobson is crazy when it comes to the issue of abortion, no doubt. But, his point, said many other times in much more eloquent ways, rings with a high resonance of truth. The assention of the Obama campaign and its potentail to take the White House and its levers of power threatens to silence the debate on "right to life" issues, or at least put it so far back on the stove top as to usher in a new era of statusquo abortion on demand, abortion as a means of contraception, abortion as a way of population control. Dobson is getting older, has had some serious health problems, and can probably sense his time coming to a close. I am sure he is frustrated, concerned and saddened to the point of distraction regarding the direction that our nation's political process is going. It is hard to be a passionate man.

8:25 PM  

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