Dobson's FOCUS ON THE FAMILY Disses Obama... Kris Reacts

Hi, Brothers and Sisters in Christ!

I listened to Dobson express his displeasure with Obama months ago in very terse, un-Christian terms... so I have stopped listening to FOCUS ON THE FAMILY entirely as a result, as I don't support cheap shots and un-Christian comments from Christians about Christians, leading or otherwise. (Agreeing to disagree is one thing -- out and out screwing someone with words is not.) So we continue to disagree, you and I... and that's okay.

Based on current trends (with Obama already carrying 250 of the 270 electoral votes he needs to become President, according to the most recent polls), I believe Obama will be our next President. When he is (or even before he is), I hope you'll read his two books (The Audacity of Hope and Dreams from my Father), and Joe Biden's book (Promises to Keep) so that your instilled distrust or fear of them will cease and that you'll see they're both fervent in their faith in God and that they have our best interests at heart.

I can see disagreeing on their stand on issues (although I don't disagree on many of them myself). But please don't just listen to one side and think that's all there is to it.

I listen to FOX, CNN, MSNBC and several other stations several times a night because I know they all have their perspective and ideologies, and what I have seen from the conservative, right-leaning talking heads is a vilification and obfuscation of Obama's true stand on the issues, on the content of his character, and on other things. So I have abandoned any idea of hoping that right-leaning conservatives will be fair in characterizing the ticket. And the so-called "liberal" things that Obama has supported during his career ("doing unto others".. and... "to the least of our brethren"), I too have supported. So why would I vote against him this time?

I believe in the Obama-Biden ticket with all my heart. They're as much true-blue patriots and Christians as we are, even though we may disagree on specific issues. Although I would never have an abortion myself, I support a woman's right to choose whether she wants to carry a child to term, based on the way in which the pregnancy occurred -- rape, incest, or mutual agreement -- or on the health of the fetus and whether carrying to term a child with birth defects will prosper the mother/couple or utterly cripple her/them and her/their ability to make a living and provide for other children, providing she decides very early in the pregnancy. And while I would hope that a teenager or older woman would elect to adopt out an unwanted child upon its birth, I cannot see mandating that she carry the child to term if the child is unwanted. It takes months, dealing with a plethora of internal emotional and physical changes, and lots of money to carry a child to term successfully. And make no mistake: if abortions were outlawed, they would not stop. Desperate women of all ages would resort to back alley, hanger-induced procedures and would die in massive numbers right along with the fetuses they carry.

No one LIKES abortion, or endures the procedure without serious emotional repercussions. It isn't a day at the park. It's a hard, hard decision that calls attention to the seriousness of what each woman is thinking of doing.

I don't support the notion that life begins at conception or that all abortion is murder. I have seen battered children and children who have learned, the hard way, that they are "excess baggage" to their parents. Better not to be born at all than to be born into a family that doesn't want you and yet won't adopt you out...

I do not want to see Roe vs. Wade overturned, for these reasons, and more -- and both McCain and Palin support overturning it. And the likelihood of the next President placing new people on the Supreme Court makes our votes even more important, yours and mine. (Biden's book covers his dedication to being sure Judge Bork was fully understood regarding his ideology about what a Chief Justice should do with various issues. Fascinating reading, if you'd like to hear "the other side of the story" before casting your vote...)

And even though Palin is a professing Christian (as is/was Bush, most of whose policies and actions I have despised for years), I cannot even imagine Palin as VP or as President (she's Bushier and cockier than Bush by far, with far less knowledge of the issues upon which she speaks) -- and with McCain as old and as cancer-prone as he is, Palin's being VP scares me as I haven't been scared in a very long time... She scares others as well.

I have seen what right-wing politics and religion have done to the fabric of our country for thirty years now -- causing us to divide along ideological lines that make us feel estranged from other Christian brothers and sisters -- and I think it's a work of Satan. Just as he has tried to estrange us from God, he is working hard to estrange us from those with similar hopes, dreams and aspirations... and that stinks! Read GOD'S POLITICS by Jim Wallis for another "take" on what politics would look like if liberal Christians were able to establish policies that encouraged and supported all of God's children and not just the well-established, rich ones.

I love and support the peacemaker of the two this time. The peacekeeper (warrior McCain) has had his chance to change things for decades and the only changes I've seen have been bad ones. It's time, I believe, to see what a unifier and peacemaker can do.

One thing is for sure. God is still in control and as long as we continue to love one another, despite our perspectives and political differences, He is going to smile on us.

I love ya ALL!

Kris