Will Dobson Defy His Conscience?

Back in January, Dr. James Dobson, a leading conservative Christian activist, said he “could not in good conscience vote for John McCain.” He went on say that he “would not vote for John McCain under any circumstances.” That’s because, among other things, McCain had voted in favor of human embryonic stem cell research and failed to support a constitutional amendment that would have defined marriage as between one man and one woman.

What a difference six months make! Now, claiming to be “more comfortable with McCain,” Dobson is not only considering voting for him, but he is actually thinking about endorsing the Arizona senator. What has changed? Dobson now sees McCain as not such a bad choice compared to the much more liberal Barack Obama. However, by going back on his word, Dobson is risking hurting himself in two ways.

First, it will damage his reputation. It will make him look no different from the politicians he often criticizes. It will expose him as a man who is motivated by political power rather than one who is bound by his conscience. Since he is supposed to be moral leader, he will be perceived as a hypocrite who asks people to do as he says, not as he does. He would no longer be trusted to keep his promises. He will be seen as a pragmatic person who is willing to do or say whatever it takes to help bring about an outcome that he desires.

Second, he is putting himself in jeopardy of being marginalized and losing the very political influence that he seems to be trying to protect. If he ultimately supports McCain after saying that he wouldn’t, no one will pay any attention to him the next time he threatens to withhold support from a less-than-conservative candidate seeking the Republican presidential nomination. The party would feel free to nominate such a candidate with the assumption that Dobson would fall in line in time for the general election campaign. Dobson would be a like the boy who cried wolf. He would be like a parent who threatens to punish a child if he does such-and-such, but then doesn’t back up his words with actions after the child goes ahead and does it. That parent would lose his power over that child from then on. Likewise, Dobson would lose what remaining influence he has with Republican voters.

Comments

[Wayne from Jeremiah Films]

I've linked to your post from "McCain vs Obama on stem cell research" http://www.jeremiahfilms.com/released/McCain-vs-Obama/stemcell.html ... Great post, you pointed out the dilemma.