The relationship between the religious right movement and Republicans in DC hasn’t been going particularly well since Election Day. It’s reached a point in which religious right leaders like James Dobson have taken to threatening the White House with reprisals unless the movement starts seeing some progress.
Why would Bush & Co. risk alienating the GOP base? Because they don’t think religious right leaders like Dobson can follow through on their threats.
It’s not certain, however, whether Dobson, 68, can translate his considerable influence into political muscle. White House officials consider his demands too absolutist and impractical. “We respect him greatly,” says a Bush aide, “but his political influence is not everything people might think.” (emphasis added)
Yeah, that ought to start healing the rifts between the religious right and the White House.
I can only imagine how Dobson, who thinks quite highly of himself, will react when he sees that a White House aide was willing to tell Time magazine that Dobson’s influence has been exaggerated and his demands are unreasonable. For those of us who think poorly of the White House and Dobson, there’s nothing better than seeing one side antagonize the other like this.
Note to Dobson: The president you helped elect thinks you can’t make a significant difference. They claim to respect you, but they’re telling the liberal media that your power has been embellished and you demand too much. They’re mocking you, Jim, because they see you talking a good game, but they don’t think you can hurt them politically.
Care to prove them wrong?