Last weekend President Obama not only declared the Gulf Coast open for business, but even took his daughter Sasha for a swim to dispel any suspicion that the waters there were unsafe (for humans or the fish we so love to eat). It’s just too bad that his declaration was drowned out by his mixed messages on the plan to build a mosque (as part of a Muslim cultural center) near Ground Zero:
He seemed to be supporting it on Friday:
Ground zero is, indeed, hallowed ground. But let me be clear: As a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country. And that includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances. This is America. And our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable.
(President Obama at a Ramadan Dinner at the White House, Washington Post, August 14, 2010)
But he seemed to be opposing it on Saturday:
I was not commenting and I will not comment on the wisdom of making the decision to put a mosque there.
(President Obama “clarifying” on his remarks when pressed by reporters, Washington Post, August 15, 2010)
Clearly one can be forgiven the impression that he was for it before he was against it. Sound familiar…? Meanwhile, his first statement had the rare force of being both perfectly clear and entirely correct.
And he wonders why pundits (right and left) keep harping on nonsensical and divisive issues like this instead of commenting (and commending him) on all he’s doing to create jobs, improve health care, and keep America safe from terrorist attacks….
Luckily for Obama, the following statement by right-wing doughboy and former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich is causing even greater consternation and furor:
You know, Nazis don’t have the right to put up a sign next to the Holocaust Museum in Washington. We would never accept the Japanese putting up a site next to Pearl Harbor. There’s no reason for us to accept a mosque next to the World Trade Center.
(Huffington Post, August 17, 2010)
His analogy is demonstrably flawed of course. But Newt knows full well that this will hardly matter to the political extremists and Christian Jihadists in his Republican Party to whom he is clearly pandering to win the nomination for president in 2012.
Ironically, his insinuation that America is at war against Muslims today, just as it was against the Nazis and Japanese during World War II, makes a mockery of former President George W. Bush’s repeated declaration that America is at war against terrorism, not Islam.
More to the point, though, Newt’s statement demonstrates why overwrought relatives of the victims of 9/11 and their political enablers should not be granted veto power over the building of this Muslim center. His statement should also finally disabuse all sensible Americans of the notion that it’s only radical Islamists who are plotting for the “clash of civilizations” (i.e., between Christianity and Islam) that should usher in Armageddon Day … The Rapture.
Related commentaries:
A mosque near ground zero?
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