Ann Althouse has a little poll on Obama's clarification of his walk-back of his original Iftar remarks on the GZM:
Sunday, August 15, 2010
"Just to be clear, the president is not backing off in any way from the comments he made last night. It is not his role as president to pass judgment on every local project."
Said Obama spokesman Bill Burton.
What's the worst thing about Burton's statement?
It disrespects Ground Zero to characterize it as just another "local project."
The President really did change his position, and it's a lie to deny that.
The President dips into local matters when he wants to, such as Skip Gates and the Cambridge cop.
It's legalistic hair-splitting again instead of saying something clear that people can understand.
There is a good series of comments on her blog post below. I agree this is an entirely unforced error on Obama's part. WTF was too hard for our "brilliant" president to see that this was a case where a legal building was sited to deliberately give offense, and a compromise ought to be urged? Instead he climbs back onto the podium and lectures us. The only adult in the room seems to be Governor Patterson (!) who has offered state aid to the mosque's developer to find another site; he was turned down.
Fred4Pres said...
Whoever is in charge gets to be in the defensive position to questions like this.
But President Obama could have artfully dodged this bullet by outlining the freedoms of the first and fifth amendments, pointing out that Muslims have far more freedom in America than in the Muslim world, saying what George Bush said that Islam is not the enemy but al Qaeda and radical terrorism is the enemy...
then suggesting this project would be best located in a different location but saying that was for the promoters to figure out with local officials.
But Obama blew it.
And I do not relish he blew it. I would prefer the President say the right thing.
8/15/10 12:08 PM
AllenS said...
When Obama gave that speech before the Muslim audience, did he write it, or did someone else write the speech?
Does Obama have an original thought in his head?
I think that this is a prime example of him not knowing what the fuck is going on. This probably confuses even Biden.
8/15/10 12:10 PM
Rialby said...
Obama knows exactly what's going on. From what I've seen of the man, I suspect that his knee-jerk reaction is one of contrarianism. Obama knows that the American people are against this idea but rather than ascribing legitimate motives to the populace, he believes we're all a bunch of raghead-hating rubes. So, he comes out for what he sees as the highest of moral highgrounds.
8/15/10 12:13 PM
Maguro said...
It is not his role as president to pass judgment on every local project.
Too fucking late for that, he already passed judgment on it at his little Ramadan get-together. If he wanted to stay out of it, he should have stayed out of it. Now he needs to take a stand: For it or against it?
What's it gonna be, Barry?
8/15/10 12:14 PM
Expat(ish) said...
The funny thing is that GWB would have done fine on this, as would Clinton and Bush/I. I find these unforced errors a continuing surprise.
-XC
8/15/10 12:14 PM
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