I have been rereading James Dobson’s September 1998 letter to his Focus on the Family constituency in the wake of the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal. It is an amazing primary source, especially in light of the evangelical embrace of Donald Trump, a twice-divorced adulterer who slept with a porn star and by most accounts appears to be a pathological liar.
Here is Dobson on Bill Clinton:
As it turns out, character DOES matter. You can’t run a family, let alone a country, without it. How foolish to believe that a person who lacks honesty and moral integrity is qualified to lead a nation and the world! Nevertheless, our people continue to say that the President is doing a good job even if they don’t respect him personally. Those two positions are fundamentally incompatible. In the Book of James the question is posed, “Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring” (James 3:11 NIV). The answer is no.
Here is Dobson this week: