The XX Factor: What women really think.

The End of the End

I honestly never thought I'd see the day when James Dobson stepped down. To me, he so perfectly encapsulated this moment in evangelical history, when conservative Christians feel simultaneously persecuted and entitled. To much of America, Dobson was revered as a kind of friendly living God, dispensing advice on all things family from his headquarters in Colorado Springs, through his books and radio shows. Then every once in a while, Dobson would step a big foot into secular politics, often with disastrous results.

Rick Warren is the closest Dobson has to a successor. Until he was embraced by Obama, Warren too operated as an outsider, keeping a low profile as he glad-handed around Washington. Dobson operated much more clumsily. He would declare someone—Gingrich, Bush—the next savior and then be bitterly disappointed when things didn't work out. He remained to the end baffled and angry about the outside world, despite his considerable influence in it.