Obama And That Pesky Mosque...

Once upon a time, there was an Islamic group that wanted to build a Mosque near ground zero... the site where Islamic extremists crashed airplanes into the World Trade Center and killed thousands of people. Naturally, this generated some opposition, both in the real world and on the Internet... but it was mostly local interest. The highest officials concerned about it were the Mayor and Governor of New York.

And then Barack Obama, President of the United States, opened his mouth and made it an issue that the GOP could use across the nation in their attempt to supplant Democrats as the party in charge of Congress. Friday night, he supported the building of the Mosque.

"As a citizen, and as President, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country," Mr. Obama said to applause from the audience.

"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 unshakeable."

By uttering these words, Obama took a local issue and made it national. Now Republicans will be able to quiz their Democrat opponents, asking "Do you agree with your President on this issue?" It was so obviously a mistake that the White House backtracked less than 24 hours later.

"I was not commenting and I will not comment on the wisdom of making the decision to put a mosque there," the President said after a speech in Panama City, Florida.

"I was commenting very specifically on the right people have that dates back to our founding. That's what our country is about."

This didn't really clarify anything, though, and White House spokespeople have been further "clarifying" his remarks ever since.

Ooops.


I haven't talked about this issue, though it's been debated for months. I will take this opportunity to weigh in.

In this country, we have a host of legal rights. Quite a lot is legal that wouldn't be legal elsewhere. But adults are expected to understand the difference between legal and wise. Something can be legal without being a good idea... ask any redneck who's ever handed his beer to his friends and proceeded to perform some idiotic stunt that got him injured or embarrassed. Perfectly legal. But it still shouldn't have been done.

We have a similar situation with this mosque at Ground Zero. Is it legal to build a Mosque on private property? Sure it is. Do they have a right to worship their religion? Within the bounds of the law, sure they do. Is it wise to build a mosque on this particular site? Not at all.

To understand this, you have to understand the historical way that Muslims have acted in situations like this. They have spread their religion "by the sword" quite a lot, and they like to build mosques on the sites of their great victories. Because of this, many view this "Victory Mosque" in a very unfavorable light.

Myself included.

There is nothing, literally NOTHING, that can be done to erase the perception that the Victory Mosque is a celebration of thousands of Americans dying at the hands of Muslim terrorists. The PR people may claim that they want the mosque to "heal the wounds" and "bridge the divide" and other such pleasant sounding phrases, but the reality is that this is a celebration of victory.

Over us.

If you think Islam is unpopular NOW, go ahead and build the Victory Mosque at Ground Zero and see what THAT does to your approval indices.

Especially now that PresBo has opened his mouth and made this thing a national issue.

Topic for another day: Does Islam deserve the same blanket protection under the First Amendment that is enjoyed by other religions?