I suppose we shouldn't be surprised that Obama is defending the building of a mosque near Ground Zero. 

As I'm sure some of our three readers have noticed, I'm a believer in separating the terrorist acts of Islamofascism from the religion of Islam.  I think blaming all Islams for 9/11 is not that different from blaming all Catholics for the pedophilia scandals in the Catholic Church, or blaming all Christians for the bombing of abortion clinics.  Granted, Muslims have been slower to speak out against violence done in the name of their religion, but it's happening more and more and I believe that movement will continue to grow if it's received with welcome from non-Muslims. 

That said, I think the idea of a mosque so close to the site of an act of terror committed in the name of Islam is a horrible idea.  The builders are well aware that this is repugnant to the majority of New Yorkers and especially to people who lost loved ones or survived 9/11.  Continuing to build a mosque at this location in light of the opposition to it demonstrates that it is meant as a direct affront.

And of course, Obama has to stick his nose in local matters again, giving an opinion on something he has no right or reason to be concerned with in an offiicial fashion.  His support of the mosque is not coming in an offhand remark to a friend, it was expressed at a podium in prepared remarks at an official state function.  This is even more of a gaffe than the "the Cambridge police acted stupidly" comment a year ago, as he's purposely weighing in on something he has no business sticking his nose in and once again, he's on the wrong side.  Obama claims this is a freedom of religion issue, but I don't recall hearing Obama weighing in on the side of Catholics when we oppose tax dollars paying for abortions - he says one thing and then does whatever the hell he wants.  I understand that Obama wants to be a hip and unconventional president, and if that's how he wishes to be viewed that's fine and dandy, but there's a difference between being the president who doesn't want to give up his Blackberry because he's the hip, tech savvy Commander in Chief and a president who doesn't recognize the boundaries of his job and uses his podium to express official opinions on happenings the Office of the President has no legal standing to weigh in on.

I am so hopeful that the GOP can get its act together enough to present a strong presidential candidate in 2012.  I previously thought that Obama would be a one-term president because he has a lack of stick-to-itiveness and would be thinking that he could just move on to run the UN, but he's been given such an easy ride that he'll continue in office.  It's up to Republicans to lose the 2012 race; unfortunately, we're really good at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

Posted by: Alice H at 10:15 AM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
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