Dobson resurfaces

Well, well, well ... Dr. James Dobson is back.

Fox News Channel's Fin Gomez, embedded with the Mike Huckabee campaign, reports tonight that Dobson has endorsed Huckabee for president.

"(Huckabee's) unwavering positions on the social issues, notably the institution of marriage, the importance of faith and the sanctity of human life, resonate deeply with me and with many others," Dobson said in a statement.

(Um, just not deeply enough to get involved before now, I guess.)

Dobson's endorsement, he said, is made on his own behalf and not in the name of Focus on the Family, adding that it "comes in the wake of my statement on Super Tuesday that I could not vote for Sen. John McCain, even if he goes on to win the Republican nomination. His record on the institution of the family and other conservative issues makes his candidacy a matter of conscience and concern for me."

He did not endorse earlier, he said, because Romney and Huckabee were both "pro-family candidates whom I could support, but I was reluctant to choose between them."

You can read the entire statement here:

http://embeds.blogs.foxnews.com/2008/02/08/social-conservative-leader-james-dobson-endorses-huckabee-for-president/

Regular readers of my column know how I feel about these kinds of endorsements (http://clarioncaller.blogspot.com/2007/11/robertson-and-giuliani-strangest-of.html). Suffice it to say that Huckabee would do well for himself to be wary of this development. I would argue that it would behoove him to ignore it altogether. After all, if Dobson really believed in Huckabee and wanted to help him, wouldn't he have made the choice earlier on when, theoretically, it could have made the most difference? Huckabee has managed to win six states without his help. Even Dobson acknowledges now that his support may not mean much: "Obviously, the governor faces an uphill struggle, given the delegates already committed to Sen. McCain..."

The bottom line is that because Dobson wouldn't make a stand earlier, his stand isn't worth much now. But Dobson would rather make a weak endorsement late than be left out of the party.

Put another way, with friends like these, Huckabee won't need any enemies.