What choices did President Barack Obama have with respect to the proposal to build a mosque as part of a cultural center very close to Ground Zero?
As I see it, his choices were the following:
1. Continue to remain silent on the entire issue.
2. Endorse the proposal to build the mosque.
3. Speak out in favor of the right to build a mosque where permitted by law but make clear that he was not taking any position on whether this mosque should be built where proposed.
4. Speak out in favor of the right to build a mosque where permitted by law but indicate that it was unfortunate that advocates sought to build it so close to Ground Zero, hallowed ground, and discourage them from doing so.
5. Condemn the project.
I’m sure there were other choices, or permutations and combinations on the five above, that I have overlooked.
It appears that President Obama sought to follow the third option, speaking out forcefully for religious freedom while at the same time not endorsing the specific proposal to build a mosque very close to Ground Zero. But, whether to avoid appearing overly equivocal or because of the nature of the dinner where he made his statement (a dinner breaking the fast during Ramadan), he did not clearly state that he was endorsing the right to build where permitted by law but distancing himself from the specific proposal to build so close to Ground Zero.
On Friday, at the dinner breaking the fast, Obama stated: ““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.”
Today in Florida, the President sought to “clarify” his remarks, by stating: ““I was not commenting, and I will not comment, on the wisdom of making the decision to put a mosque there. I was commenting very specifically on the right people have that dates back to our founding. That’s what our country is about.”
I think President Obama took a slight step back today and was not merely repeating what he had said on Friday. At the dinner, he began by noting the sensitivities surrounding the rebuilding of lower Manhattan, the trauma of 9/11, and he specifically acknowledged that the pain and suffering of those who had lost loved ones on 9/11 was unimaginable. He then said, “But let me be clear,” and then spoke of his belief as a citizen and as president, as noted above. Had he intended on Friday night only to have asserted the right of Moslems to freely exercise their religious freedom in America and to build anywhere permitted by law but at the same time to make clear that he was not endorsing this project and perhaps even discouraging it, he surely would have chosen a different way to say it. By the same token, I do not believe that he was intending to endorse the project in his remarks at the Ramadan dinner.
Having said that, I don’t know that there was any easy way out here. TIME magazine, in commenting on Obama’s initial statement, noted that he had previously taken a strong stand on telling Americans what they needed to hear rather than telling them what they wanted to hear. TIME then noted in an update, referring to Obama’s remarks today in Florida, that perhaps he was backtracking and retreating from telling Americans what they need to hear.
I applaud President Obama, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg, for taking the positions they have on this mosque project. Would they have preferred that the issue had never arisen? Sure. As would the Jewish Anti-Defamation League, which twisted and turned to come out against the project. I too would have preferred that the issue not have arisen. But it did and the evidence does not seem to support any notion that those who have advanced this project are anti-American Moslems intent upon harming the country. Given the circumstances, I believe that the President and the Mayor have taken the right positions. I even think that forty years from now, as cultural, religious and ethnic diversity in America continues to increase, whether some like it or not, the presence of that mosque and cultural center may be positive evidence of this nation’s strength through its diversity. E pluribus unum.
