Pastor James Dobson has responded to comments from two years ago by Barack Obama that called out Dobson and Christianity.  The speech by Obama took place before the Call to Renewal (text of speech)group in 2006.

“I think he’s deliberately distorting the traditional understanding of the Bible to fit his own world view, his own confused theology,” Dobson said, later adding that Obama is “dragging biblical understanding through the gutter.”

Dobson also takes aim at Obama for suggesting in the speech that those motivated by religion should attempt to appeal to broader segments of the population by not just framing their arguments around religious precepts.

Dobson said the suggestion is an attempt to lead by the “lowest common denominator of morality.”

“Am I required in a democracy to conform my efforts in the political arena to his bloody notion of what is right with regard to the lives of tiny babies?” he said. “What he’s trying to say here is unless everybody agrees, we have no right to fight for what we believe.”

“What the senator is saying there, in essence, is that ‘I can’t seek to pass legislation, for example, that bans partial-birth abortion, because there are people in the culture who don’t see that as a moral issue,” Dobson also said. “And if I can’t get everyone to agree with me, than it is undemocratic to try to pass legislation that I find offensive to the Scripture. Now that is a fruitcake interpretation of the Constitution.”

Barack might be forced to back off his comments from the 2006 speech a bit regardless of how strong he feels about it.  If he wants the Presidency he is going to have to win over a lot of voters who center their lives around Christianity.  The Presidency is Barack’s if he pacifies some of his strongest beliefs until he is in the White House.