Focus on the Family founder James Dobson is fighting the Obama campaign's effort to win the evangelical Christian vote. The fiercely pro-life author and speaker rebutted Obama's "fruitcake interpretation" of the Bible on his radio show today. Apparently back in 2006, Obama gave a speech to a liberal Christian group pointing out Old Testament Hebrew laws, to highlight the problem with legislating according to the Bible. In fact, that speech sounds a lot like this clip from the West Wing, the show about fictional awesome president Martin Sheen that helped so many liberals endure the first Bush term:
Aaron Sorkin admits that he cribbed this speech from an anonymous e-mail forward; using archaic laws about mildew and dietary restrictions to discredit the Bible as a source of guidance is an old strategy thoroughly worked over by apologists and skeptics. Dobson has not-altogether-ludicrous defenses of why the Bible's condemnation of homosexuality still applies, and why unborn babies are still babies with a right to life.
But to those of us who don't believe the Bible, digging up weird Old Testament laws makes a damn fun argument. It's just a little too bold to make when you're courting a majority of the American population.
So could Obama be forced to talk about this? Could he give a speech on religion that would rival his speech on race? Or will he avoid admitting that his brand of Christianity is still a little too liberal for most of America?
The Obama campaign, which of course is