TightyRighty.net

On Friday night, President Obama made the following statement regarding the proposed Ground Zero mosque to attendees at the Iftar dinner honoring the start of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of prayer and fasting:

“As a citizen, and as President, I believe that Muslims have the same 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 unshakeable.”

Given the makeup of the audience and the applause this statement generated, it was interpreted he clearly supported placing the mosque at Ground Zero.  If you run a Google search on obama mosque ground zero you will find most of the links indicate his support for the mosque at Ground Zero.

However, on Saturday, perhaps realizing he had “stepped in it”, President Obama “clarified” these comments as follows:

“In this country, we treat everybody equally and in accordance with the law, regardless of race, regardless of religion. I was not commenting and I will not comment on the wisdom of making the decision to put a mosque there,”

Either President Obama thinks we are so stupid that we need to be re-educated on religious groups’ constitutional right to build a house of worship on private property or he realized he made a political miscalculation regarding the vehemence of opposition to the Ground Zero mosque so he tempered his message.  I think it is more of the latter and causes me to question whether this president isn’t a double minded man.

P.S.  My perspective is that just because someone has a right to do something, doesn’t mean that is the right thing to do.  Building a mosque (named after the great mosque built after the Muslim conquest of Spain) within spitting distance of Ground Zero, where parts of United Airlines Flight 175 landed in the attack, is clearly the WRONG thing to do.