Obama: "Ground Zero is, indeed, hallowed ground, but"

Shadows of Palestinian women are seen at Qalandiya checkpoint outside the West Bank city of Ramalla August 28, 2009, on their way to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem on the first Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. (Reuters, Fadi Arouri)

"Ground Zero is, indeed, hallowed ground, but let me make clear," said the president at "a White House dinner celebrating the Islamic holy month of Ramadan" today, spinning effortlessly 180 degrees from his previous position that the Ground Zero Mosque controversy was a "local issue" which he would not weigh in on:

As a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as anyone else in this country. 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.

Is that inspiring, or what? We are now being asked to believe that Mr. Obama had embraced the idea all along but was waiting for someone else to cast the first stone the locals to weigh in. Who woulda thunk it, a statist deferring to subsidiarity?

Aides to Mr. Obama say privately that he has always felt strongly about the proposed community center and mosque. But the White House did not want to weigh in until local authorities made a decision on the proposal, planned for two blocks from the site of the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center.

We can only guess at what polling entrails revealed to the Leader of the Free World that it was okay to spit in the face of the overwhelming majority of his fellow Americans who oppose the building of an Islamic tower in the psychological shadow of what once was the Twin Towers. Perhaps it was an attempt to appease an angry base recently dissed by Press Secretary Robert Gibbs as "crazy" and in need of drug testing.

Update: Instalanche!

It’s the return of the "damning but.”

Update II: Michelle Malkin Buzzworthy link!

Update III: This story is not going to go away. Obama's speech and the old and new media's reportage/reaction top Memeorandum Saturday morning.

Crossposted at Riehl World View and Liberty Pundits.

Comments

[Sillyfingers.wordpress.com]

Yeah, sure, blah blah blah blah blah, but...

Muslims *do* have every right to practice their religion, and to discriminate against this building on religious grounds *would* be an outrage.

It's that simple.

[peter jackson]

Just because we have a right to do something doesn't mean it's the right thing to do. Otherwise, I say let's go buy up some land two blocks away from the original Ground Zero in Hiroshima and build a Disneyland.

[coriolan]

Surely to build a mosque two whole blocks away from Ground Zero is no way to celebrate religious diversity in this country. Is the Al-Aqsa Mosque two blocks away from the Temple of Jerusalem? Is the Ayasofya Mosque of Istanbul two blocks away from the Hagia Sophia? The tolerant logic of the Islamic faith would seemingly require the mosque go directly upon the hallowed ground of Ground Zero. I mean, it's not as if the City of New York is ever going to build anything on the former WTC site.....

[Robbins Mitchell]

Note to self: buy more ammo at Wal-Mart this weekend

[linda]

In the post 911 America, we are all subject to suspicion, yet we are asked to turn a blind eye and not be suspicious of the motives for building a 100 million dollar mosque near ground zero? This issue has nothing to do with religious freedom. It has to do with the security of our country and what safeguards have been provided to ensure that those building this mosque are not backed by extremists. This is a concern that our President clearly does not share.

[Bill G.]

Christian proselytizers are regularly enjoined from acting too close to a wide variety of sites and activities, on the basis of their presence being too inflammatory.
This mosque's position is inflammatory. It will also be touted around the world as a symbol of victory for the murderers.
Build it? Fine. Not there. Somewhere else.

[Rob Smith]

I look forward to the administration's support for the building of Aryan Brotherhood "culture centers" next to the Holocaust museum and the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City.

[JaneD]

Building a mosque at that site is like putting a great big "Kick Me" sign on your butt, walking up to the neighborhood bully, and grabbing your ankles.

[Obama Mosque]

The voices crying out to disallow this project are the same intolerant bigoted voiced that led to the rise of the brutal regimes in Germany and China and Italy in the middle of the last century. The sensitivity of the victims - is not a real excuse - that is a simple excuse to allow xenophobic, hostile, racist and prejudiced thinking to take root in our democracy. muslims died in the collapse of the towers as did jews and christians and non-believers. This was not an attack by the world muslims on America. It was an attack by a handful of thugs. We cannot let our own native thugs take control of this debate. Please people, come to your senses.

[KingShamus]

I love it when the President says, "Let me be clear..." That's usually a good sign he's about to muddy the waters.

Obama is a multi-culti Muslim-sympathizing jerk. He'd rather make some not-so-nice practitioners of Islam happy then respect the memories of 9/11 victims and the wishes of their families.

[anonymous]

Remember how the liberals got all upset that the National Rifle Association had planned to have its 1999 convention in Denver?

The convention took place two weeks after the Columbine High School shooting, but had been scheduled years in advance.

[Bigfingo]

It will be OK to build the mosque in NY when I can build a Mickie D's next to the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem.

[MassJim]

I am now being lectured at by Obama that the first amendment right to freedom of religion trumps the first amendment right to freedom of speech. Are we all to shut up and not express our opinions that the building of the Mosque on this spot at this time is a finger in the eye to those who died on 9/11?

[MilwaukeeD]

Muslims have a history of building mosques on victory sites, especially on the holy sites of vanquished foes. They have done this repeatedly in Hindu regions and when they conquered Spain. That a mosque sits on the site of the Temple in Jerusalem is not an accident. The name of the proposed New York mosque is "Cordoba", which was the seat of the Caliphate who ruled Spain. Again, not an accident. And September 11th was chosen for the attacks because that is the date of a famous Muslim defeat. That was revenge.

[Amy]

Obama said:

"As a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as anyone else in this country. 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."

He is using the first sentence to make the second sentence seem true and obvious, when it actually is not.

Also, describing the site as "private property in lower Manhattan" is like describing Arlington National Cemetery as "public property in a suburb of Washington D.C." Or Gettysburg as "pleasant farmland in south-central Pennsylvania."

And "place of worship and community center" sounds so innocuous and avoids describing or dealing with the ideology motivating the imam and his choice of location.

Can you imagine looking in a crystal ball in mid- to late-September of 2001 and learning this would be proposed and our president would support it?

[MilwaukeeD]

To excuse All Muslims because "only a few thugs" were involved in the September 11 attacks is disingenuous. Once those "thugs" destroy Western Society, which is their aim, all Muslims will benefit.

[kenny komodo]

Barry is correct in that Muslims have the freedom in this country to practice their religion. However I don't believe that also includes the freedom to build their damn mosque wherever the hell they want. Building it in the vicinity of Ground Zero is a deliberate poke in the eye. There is no other explanation. Since there are already a dozen or more mosques in Manhattan alone not to mention the other boroughs and plenty of commercial space available in areas other then the vicinity of the WTC Barry's argument is simply laughable.

[RRRoark]

"The correct way to punctuate a sentence that starts: “Of course It is none of my business but--” is to place a period after the word “but.” Don’t use excessive force in supplying such moron with a period. Cutting his throat is only a momentary pleasure and is bound to get you talked about."

From the Notebooks of Lazarus Long

[marco73]

Since Barry has no problem with that Mosque near Ground Zero, when are they going to build a mosque next to the Pentagon, maybe close and tall enough to cast a shadow on the 9/11 memorial there. And I understand that land near the Flight 91 site in Pennsylvania is much cheaper than downtown New York. I mean, since we are such a tolerant people...

[FriendofYasmine]

It's so illuminating when "spin" like that is written down and analyzed.

While the group sponsoring this mosque may have a LEGAL right to build where landing gear from one of the 9/11 jets fell, they don't have the right to demand tolerance for this project from people to whom they show no sensitivity. And the Imam pushing the site doesn't deserve State Department sponsorship on overseas junkets. This group doesn't have the right to other government help in their project, either.

Some thoughts from a British "bigot". Recommended by Ace. We learn that not all Muslims are in favor of this edifice. Some even think the plan to build a mosque there is an evil plot by THE JEWS.

The simple faith of progressives in any plan presented by a member of a "minority" with the stated goal of "building bridges" allows those progressives to ignore all sorts of inconvenient information. Their good intentions MUST bring about positive results. Because they have good intentions. Right?

[Baseball mom]

Hey Barry how about a Shinto shrine at Pearl Harbor?

[Baseball mom]

Or a German culture center at Auschwitz?

[retriever]

Let's think how people would react now in an Arab country if someone went over and built a Christian missionary center, YMCA and Cathedral on the site of a great Crusader battle/massacre of Muslims 700 years ago. I think there would be much muttering about "vile infidels.", riots in the streets. ANd we are reviled for saying that it is cruel to the families of the murdered victims, called paranoid when we wonder where the money is coming from to build it...And wonder just why now? It would be one thing if it was a small store front mosque (worship only) to meet the spiritual needs of Moslems who work in that part of the city.

I guess I am just biased: coworker's brother was incinerated in the towers.

[jason]

Obama doesn't have the first idea about what religious freedom means. Take Islam for example. The entire religion, and culture that surrounds it is oppressive and bigoted - to women, to anyone of another religious belief, to anyone who doesn't follow its tenets. And this a**wipe "president" of ours insists on defending an imam who has excoriated America and American people - similar to the Irreverend Wright.