Mullings An American Cyber Column By Rich Galen

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Sensitivities

Rich Galen

Monday August 16, 2010

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I'm a little uncomfortable about this because my instinct - my strong instinct - is to stay far, far away from religious issues.

But, this business about the proposal to build Mosque in lower Manhattan has become big enough so that the Washington Post made it a front page story in its Sunday edition. Here was the lede:

One day after President Obama defended the freedom of Muslims to build an Islamic complex near New York's Ground Zero, he offered a less forceful version of that position on Saturday: Yes, Muslims have that right, Obama said - but that doesn't mean he believes it is the right thing for them to do.

Doesn't exactly qualify President Obama for a chapter header in a new edition of "Profiles in Courage," does it?

NOTE: Don't stop reading after this next bullet point to send me an angry e-mail. I want to make an important point.

The proposed Mosque is not AT ground zero in lower Manhattan. When I first heard about this project, I thought - as you did - that it was going to abut the site of the Twin Towers. It does not. The proposed site is about two blocks away which, if you've ever tried to drive through that area, you know it can be twenty minutes away by taxi.

Having written that, let us remember that Muslims have a highly developed sense of sensitivities. Remember when that newspaper in Denmark published a cartoon depicting Muhammad?

There were demonstrations, bombings, and murders from (alphabetically) Afghanistan to Yemen. You tell me how many Muslims in Yemen are regular subscribers to Danish newspapers.

None, would be the answer to that.

It seems that every time we turn around America is being told that we have somehow run afoul of some precept of Muslim sensibilities or another and we, because religious freedom is very important to us, we try to do better.

It cannot be lost on the backers of this Mosque that it is, if not cheek-by-jowl to Ground Zero, it is close enough to be seen by many Americans - even those of good will toward Muslims - as mocking the attacks of 9/11.

Manhattan is a big place. New York City is a bigger place. Put the Mosque somewhere else and quit insulting us by asking us to pretend that the proposed location is just happenstance.

President Obama was wrong to play to his Muslim audience at an Iftar dinner at the White House Friday night. When outrage at his position washed over Pennsylvania Avenue, the President had to restate his position pretending he had been making a moral and Constitutional point.

The Wash Post piece points out that:

"A CNN poll this month found that 68 percent of those surveyed oppose the idea; among independents, 70 percent were against it."

Sometimes swimming upstream against public opinion is a noble thing. This wasn't one of those times. The President's statement on the Mosque near Ground Zero was nothing more than cheap pandering to his audience.

Speaking of appearances and sensitivities, Michelle Obama, her daughter, and about five dozen friends decided to vacation at a five-star hotel in Spain last week. I have this uncomfortable feeling that Mrs. Obama has her laser sights set on being seen as the 21st Century Jacqueline Kennedy.

Maybe she'll succeed. I don't know and I don't care.

But, I said on CNN last week that at a time when 15 million Americans are unemployed, when we are staring down the barrel of a double-dip recession and when tourism along the U.S. Gulf Coast is at a standstill, it might have been an nice touch for her to have found a five-star hotel in the U.S. of A. rather than going to Spain.

I said, if Laura Bush had taken one of her daughters and 60 friends on a trip to Europe when the U.S. economy was failing, there would have been projectile sweat and flailing of flesh in every city room and editorial board conference in America.

It seems I was not alone in this thinking as the White House staff prevailed upon President Obama, "Jackie" Obama, and their daughter to spend an overnight in Florida this past weekend to show just how truly committed they are to American interests.

Let's turn to the politics of all this. You're a Democratic candidate for Congress and you now have to defend (or run away from) Mr. Obama's support for a Mosque in the neighborhood of the Twin Towers and Mrs. Obama's trip to Spain.

From supporting the Mosque in Manhattan to vacationing in Spain, there is an appalling lack sensitivity on the part of the First Family to what is important to Americans.

If I were running for public office I would demand my Democrat opponent take a stand on what has become a disturbing pattern of behavior, a disturbing lack of sensitivity, on the part of the Obamas.

On the Secret Decoder Ring page today: A link to the Washington Post piece, a link to yesterday's Nationals Notes column, and a Mullfoto from one of the many storms that hit the Washington area last week. Also a Catchy Caption of the Day which will make you slam your browsers closed.

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