Focus On The Ego (James Dobson)

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from OurFuture.org:



Focus On The Ego
Submitted by Jon Stokes on October 5, 2007 - 12:37pm.



Back in May, James Dobson declared in an op-ed entitled Rudy's not the one, "I cannot, and will not, vote for Rudy Giuliani in 2008. It is an irrevocable decision."

Ostensibly, Dobson made this "irrevocable decision" because of Rudy's stance on abortion, but I'm not buying it. I don't doubt that Rudy's pro-choice position rankles Dobson, but Dobson has proven himself plenty flexible in the past on matters of principle when it comes to making a smart political bet. No, I want to suggest that there's another, more important reason why Dobson cannot abide the possibility of a Rudy presidency.

In a nutshell, Dobson looks at a Rudy presidency and quite rightly sees the loss of the thing he cares most about—and it ain't his immortal soul. It's his access to power.

Rudy treats social conservative leaders even worse than he treated New York City borough presidents during his tenure as mayor: He won't even deign to be in the same room with them, much less kiss Dobson's ring in public. And this is how Rudy treats Dobson and Co. when he's in campaign mode. Imagine the kind of treatment that Dobson and Co. will get if this uppity, thrice-married, lapsed papist actually becomes president. If candidate Rudy won't even meet with them now, president Rudy certainly won't have his aids inviting them to the kinds of closed-door meetings at the White House that they thrive on.

Dobson's status as a boss within the evangelical community is dependent on his ability to credibly present himself—to his constituents and to outsiders—as a prominent Christian voice in the halls of power. If Dobson and his pals can't go back to their respective constituencies and present themselves as men who have the ear of the secular powers that be, then why should anyone respond to their fundraising appeals, or subscribe to their magazines, or generally back them as God's representatives to D.C.? What conservative voter is going to pull out their checkbook when Dobson comes on the TV and asks for a million bucks to help fight sodomy, if it's public knowledge that this man is persona non grata in the corridors of power?

Similarly, if it becomes abundantly clear over the course of one presidential campaign that Dobson can't actually deliver evangelical votes on Election Day, then nobody in D.C. will give him the public photo ops and private meetings that he needs in order to keep the myth of Dobson the Christian Big-Wig alive. This is why Dobson can't afford to back a GOP primary candidate who'll get crushed by Guiliani. (More on that in a moment, though.) ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://commonsense.ourfuture.org/focus_ego