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In reply to the discussion: Glenn Greenwald never passes up an opportunity to take a crack at Pres. Obama [View all]Enrique
(27,461 posts)on the 911 mosque
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2010/8/17/is-the-mosque-issue-a-risk-for-obama/who-has-moral-courage
Perhaps more depressing than the toxic demagoguery driving this controversy is the dearth of national politicians with the moral courage to oppose it.
President Obama deserves some credit for voluntarily entering the debate by emphatically affirming the First Amendment's guarantee of free exercise of religion. Though he muddled his own message the next day by stressing that he was neutral on whether project developers should voluntarily move from the site -- which is, after all, the crux of the dispute -- at least he defended, without qualification or caveat, the vital constitutional values at stake.
By contrast, Obama's fellow Democrats, in the face of this Republican assault, have largely been a model of cowardice, or worse. Indeed, one reason it was necessary for Obama to intervene is because the New York City Congressional delegation, with the noble exception of Manhattan Democrat Jerry Nadler, had been conspicuously and inexcusably silent. Two weeks ago, mayoral hopeful and Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner finally managed to issue a statement, but it was so vapid and incoherent that few people even knew what it meant.