Barack Obama Has Made a Big-time Error in His Support of the Ground Zero Mosque
August 14, 2010 20 Comments
ATLANTA— The controversy swirling around the building of a mosque at Ground Zero in New York has touched a still-raw nerve in this country, and Barack Obama did not help himself or the country by once again placing the presidency on the wrong side of public opinion over a divisive issue. Almost 70 percent of Americans think building a mosque at ground zero is a really bad idea and I have to say – I’m among them.
We were attacked on 9/11 by Islamic zealots, hell-bent on destroying this country and over-running it with Islam. In the years since then, we have been called all manner of filthy terms by Islamic radicals. While surely I agree there are moderates in the Islamic community, it necessarily takes a long time for these raw emotions to heal. I’m not sure when it will be appropriate to build a mosque near ground zero (if ever). But that time is certainly not now.
This isn’t an issue of religious freedom or separation of church and state, but an issue of timing. It is a recognition that there are many millions of Americans who love their country and who were deeply terrified and offended by the acts of 9/11, done in the name of Islam. Whether those who perpetrated those acts hold the banner of true Islam is up for debate- but the nerve is still too raw to force this on us all at this time.
And for Barack Hussein Obama, an increasingly unpopular president bearing three Muslim names, this certainly is not a wise political move. It reflects once again that this man is remarkably out of touch with the American mainstream. It’s no surprise this latest foul-up has coincided with a new low in the Gallup poll for Mr. Obama.
I’m telling you, Barack Obama is toast in 2012. It is just unfathomable how out of touch this man is with the core feelings of mainstream Americans.
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Even though Osama bin Laden and his lunatic tribe cannot be classified as a nation, the 9/11 attack for all practical purposes was an act of war – in a conflict that will continue for the foreseeable future.
As Chuck from Headmuscle has pointed out in a comment on one of my recent posts, his contact with Muslims around the world has clearly indicated to him that as a nation we are rapidly becoming an international symbol of weakness and foolishness, supported by a “President” who seems to relish his role as a serial apologist for the United States and his obsequious behavior toward the tyrants and plutocrats of the world.
This latest incident is, in my opinion, sufficiently outrageous to warrant extreme censure, if not impeachment for treasonous alignment with representatives of our nation’s enemies.
It is extremely fortunate that Mr. Obama was not in office on 9/11/2001, and also extremely disturbing that his actions since taking office generate a massive anxiety over what his reaction will be to an equally horrendous attack.
This is clearly a man who is not a representative of the people of America, nor is he capable of the leadership that we so terribly need at this point in our country’s existence.
God save us from this charlatan!
Yes! Save us indeed.
I’m not sure about this. Obama said, “Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as anyone else in this country.” This to me is a statement of rights not support.
I agree that Muslims have the right to build a mosque where ever they want. If we ever get in a situation where the government can dictate where and where not we are allowed to practice our religions then we’ve got an issue.
HOWEVER, I 100% agree that these Muslims are jerks for even trying to build a Mosque near the 9/11. It goes to show Muslims insensitivity to the world around them. As I’ve written before Islam has a superiority complex. They believe they are better people then us slaves and infidels. It is fully part and parcel of their religious worldview. Not unlike the mindsets of Japan, Germany, and Italy at the turn of the century we are the inferior ready to be suppressed.
The Muslims cold hearted and fascist worldview is blatantly obvious in their desire to build this mosque at this location. It is their right though to do this. However, it will forever stand as a condemnation of Islam as a insensitive and totalitarian landmark.
I do not see this as a “political” issue because politically their is freedom of religion.
What we need to do though is cut out the “political correctness” and recognize what this mosque is – it is proof of the fascist nature of Islam in that the Muslim leaders don’t have to concern themselves with the views and feelings of inferior non-Muslims. This world was given to the Muslim and a mosque near a site of the war with Islam shows the power of Allah.
We must keep in mind this sick and twisted ideology that we are fighting. It must be fought with the wallet, the pen and the sword. This mosque should be denounced by all non-extremist Muslims and non-Muslims. Their should be money raised to make this mosque and what these Muslims, specifically imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, are trying to do more widely know. And at the first sign of money going out or into the organization from extremists or the first terrorist to pass through the organization it should become the property of the state.
Meanwhile, we need to be preparing to fight these lunatics – here and abroad. As this “religion” is growing dangerously fast. We are witnessing the rise of evil in the disguise of “religion”. As a much greater man then me once said, “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them.”
Freedom Thinker agrees with Obama – kinda sorta… HA!
Friday: ‘Let me be clear: As a citizen and as President I believe that Muslims have the same right … to build a place of worship and a community centre on private property in Lower Manhattan’
Saturday: ‘I was not commenting and I will not comment on the wisdom of making a decision to put a mosque there’
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1303463/Obama-backtracks-Ground-Zero-mosque.html
It is less a matter of religion, more a matter of rights, and also a demonstration of no tact or wisdom by the folks building the mosque there.
Concur, BMM. I think most Americans took his comments on Friday to be support for the wisdom of the mosque. It’s hard to argue so articulately in favor of the mosque on Friday while enjoying a dinner celebrating a major Muslim holy day and then try and say the next day whilst at the beach that you were “not commenting on the wisdom of the mosque” (also carefully chosen words- as his view on the wisdom is still open to interpretation).
Whether you’re technically not contradicting yourself, it doesn’t come across that way- it’s hard to communicate that parsing of words effectively to people. This is an issue you are either for or against- and if you don’t want to stir up trouble, you remain silent about it.
This was a terrible political move on his part and I hope Republicans run with this one. I think they should. It demonstrates a very important point- Obama is desperately out of touch with America. One commentator called him the alien in the white house and I whole-heartedly agree.
Now, I do agree there. He lends credence to these guys by:
1. Participating in a Muslim holiday as President of the
U.S. is nuts and counter preductive. Until these nut
jobs make some changes to their religious beliefs
they are nut jobs. I mean if I was President and
went to KKK rally I’d be left out to dry.
2. Also, Obama should have kept his mouth shut on this
one but again he supports the rise of Islam so
whatever. Also, Obama is incapable of keeping his
mouth shut on anything.
BMM, yeah I agree with Obama on this one but I don’t agree with him weighing in on it. Of course he probably agree’s that it’s cool to have the mosque there in the end. And when he says he won’t comment on the wisdom of the mosque is just because a comment on the wisdom of the mosque would be that it is a good thing.
I love his response. Cracks me up!
The president stands behind everything he said but denies that he said much of anything.
I pulled that from some article somewhere. It was perfect. Summed up everything that happened that weekend.
This is one of those areas where I’m not an absolutist libertarian. I think government officials should intervene, explain to them how unwise this is and work to discourage them from building here and to instead do the building elsewhere. It just isn’t the right time. This mosque solves nothing – it only incites the anger and hatred that liberals say that it helps.
Let’s be clear on some things. Would Obama or liberals support an American Neo-Nazi movement establishing a holocaust museum next to a synagogue or the Ku Klux Klan setting up a library in the heart of a black community? When liberals so openly defend religious freedom, are they also defending the right to pray in public schools?
I think this is selective moralizing on their part. Sure – some of these Muslims may be moderates and comparing them to Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan might be overboard. But liberals wouldn’t support these other things- they would probably rally against them in droves.
The image of a mosque built near the 9/11 site is a hurtful one to an overwhelming majority of Americans. This isn’t the right time and they should be discouraged from building it there.
Instead of intervening and encouraging the building of yet another mosque somewhere other than in the area effected by 9/11 (there is already a major mosque twelve blocks away from the proposed site), this administration is sending a prominent member of the “Cordoba Initiative” project, identified as a new U.S. emissary, on a tour of the Middle East that is paid for by the U.S. taxpayer.
Oh …….. by the way, when was the last time that the White House under Obama “enjoyed a dinner” celebrating a major Christian holiday?
This language is a little harsh. But President Obama is a prostitute for Islam.
Basically, he is selling himself to Islam. Why else would he so blindly cheer lead a religion with beliefs about freedom, apostasy, womans rights, religious intolerance, rule of Islamic law, and so much more that is purely anti-American and anti-Christian love as to be scary.
Obama is very wrong on this one. The question is not one of rights, but of responsibilities. And it is wrong to build a mosque there. Period.
I support the free exercise of religion, but I am not naive. Islam is not just a religion, even in its “moderate” formulations. It is an all encompassing philosophy. In almost every place in the world where Islam predominates we see the same results: suppression / oppression of other religions, domination of women, and suppression of rights. This is not a coincidence and it is naive to think so. To build a mosque there is to send a message that Islam “won” at that place. Obama knows this, or should. He just doesn’t care.
He doesn’t care what Americans think. He’s on his one-man crusade to change America.
Remember, Obama thinks he’s the Lebron of politics:
“”I’m LeBron, baby. I can play on this level. I got some game.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/06/25/obama-im-lebron-baby-i-ca_n_53563.html
Very clearly put, TBC.
Islam is the only religion that I can think of that demands that religion be part of its politics and vice versa. The airheads that catawaul over “the separation of church and state” miss this fact completely.
My take on this, of course in a country that espouses freedom of religion, we cannot condemn the building of a religious structure or institute of any sort.
I can agree that Muslims, under this constitution, in this country, do have rights to build a house of worship/community center. But that right does not exempt them from the court of public opinion. The court of public opinion is also guaranteed rights. It’s in the same amendment, Free Speech.
This all boils down to tact, respect, common-sense, so on. This mosque, and community of Muslims, could also display some tolerance by picking a less sensitive location. You don’t see the Iowa Baptist Church building orphanages in the ports of Haiti do you? Or the French Catholic Church building a Cathedral on the smoldering remains of a Catholic led attack on the great Cube in Mecca?
Constitutional rights, in this particular circumstance are perhaps not as clear-cut as the ACLU crowd would like us to think.
There is some real obfuscation and secrecy about who is providing funding for this structure (which, by the way, is not limited to a mosque, but its plans also include many other “community services” including a swimming pool and “cultural center”). A “center” built with funding from America’s Muslim population is one thing, but if this project is funded by (for instance) Saudi Arabia, then the concept of civil rights becomes clouded.
Orphanages built by American Christian entities do exist in many parts of the world – actually, I think that there is one in Haiti – but you will not find them in Muslim nations where sharia law rules. Islam, as has been pointed out, is not a tolerant religion. At least not as it is practiced in many parts of the world today.
I’m pretty sure the constitution still protects the freedom of religion without regard for who donates or subscribes to the religion.
The thing about this that I find a joke is that people are being called names for pointing out the classless act of building a mosque in a place destroyed by a Islamic terrorist attack. There’s no other word for it. It is classless. It shows no sign of tolerance or cultural understanding by the people of the mosque.
All Americans are free to say as much. And the people still have the right to protest and call for the group to build elsewhere.
I’m getting a kick out of Mrs. Pelosi’s call to investigate those who oppose the mosque. Can’t wait for that report to come back. “Pelosi, the report is back. We now know the finances behind the opposition to the mosque. It turns out it’s an overwhelming majority of American Voters. They seem pretty pissed off too. How do you want to spin this one? Should we call ‘em all bigots or unamerican?”
There, NY Governor David Paterson is doing what I think is reasonable for city and state officials to do, negotiating with the builders of the mosque to move the facility elsewhere. By working in this way, they are not denying them their rights to worship, build a place of worship, etc. They are simply saying- it is unwise at this time to do so near Ground Zero.
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2010/08/17/paterson-king-hope-for-mosque-compromise/
This is a great conversation, so I have to chime in. My job takes me to Middle East regularly, and I have had the opportunity to hear, first hand, what Muslims think about this.
Most of them think that America is one of the most hilarious cultures on earth. They laugh at our weak resolve to stand up for our principles, and many of them believe that we are nothing more than a giant movie factory.
Put simply, they do not respect us in the least, and they are sticking their finger in our collective eye by building this mosque. Once it is built, it will be used across the region as propaganda to recruit new radicals, and promote their cause. I can see the recruiting films now.
“Where the Jews once built their dark empire, Allah has now built a mosque!”
By saying what he did, Obama has sent a message to these very same folks that principle in America means nothing, and that American resolve and integrity are now extinct. Make no mistake about it, the message was received loud and clear…and they are laughing out loud.
Chuck is providing some very valuable perspective. The issue is really not about freedom of religion – nor about political expression, for that matter (look at how much freedom has been allowed the expansion and expression of communism here in the U.S. over many decades). The standard anti-American-mindset advocates happily snatch up any excuse to denigrate and demonize the unenlightened and “bigoted” foes of political correctness (undiluted hypocrisy) and appeasement.
This is an “in-your-face” act, and in many ways a test of American resolve and national cohesion. At this point, I am sure that the rest of the world has a great deal of interest in our response and many of them will be cheered by the perception of weakness if we capitulate to the pressure being applied by Islam.
Chuck – thanks for that perspective. From what I have read, that perspective is what motivated the 9/11 bombers. I read an article once about Khalid Shiek Muhammad (I think it was him) where they basically thought the U.S. would turn immediate tail and get out of the middle east and Israel altogether after 9/11. They wanted to destroy our economy, but they also felt any level of significant blow like that would cower us into submission for years. They thought we were a paper tiger. I guess he thought differently when we were in Afghanistan within a month, crushing the Taliban and driving them out of Kabul. Wish we had kept the throttle down on the early part of that war, but that is an entirely different discussion.
I agree we look weak. There are basically no countries outside of the west who would be debating about this- and in fact, I wonder if too many in the west would debate this in the way we have.
Obama’s politics of leveling the playing field extend beyond economic redistribution and into international diplomacy. I think he wants us to voluntarily weaken ourselves so that we can be one with the rest of the world.
But he doesn’t realize that when we abdicate power, that power does not disappear. It goes somewhere else. And it was the place where it goes that we should be most concerned about.