During the Tuesday, June 24, 2008 broadcast of Focus on the Family, James Dobson talks about a speech presidential candidate Barack Obama gave about religion in June 2006 (CNN story). I’ve never been a fan of Dobson (being blacklisted doesn’t help), but the tone of this attack amazed me.

I wrote up seven pages of text analyzing what Barack Obama said and what James Dobson said. It was good stuff. Fiery and mad and pretending to be non-biased but so completely biased.

I was going to break it up into five or six posts and unleash it slowly, savoring the thrill of bashing Dobson. But then I was reminded of all that stuff in the Bible about not being so quick to criticize. I hate those passages. I always want to insist that it’s not being critical, it’s about justice and explaining what’s right and wrong (clearly I’m right, they’re wrong). But those are just excuses. So I’ll hold off on my blow-by-blow (at least for now).

I will say that I think Barack Obama’s speech was impressive. I think James Dobson found a way to criticize everything possible, even if that meant misunderstanding Obama’s intention. It’s that kind of reaction (the kind that finds something wrong with anything) that makes me hate politics. And that’s exactly what I was starting to do, so I’ll stop.

Instead you can read Barack Obama’s Call for Renewal speech and you can listen to James Dobson’s broadcast (the first third is about Tim Russert, then they get to Obama) and decide for yourself.