Political correctness shouldn’t silence critics

All mosque, all the time. Since we’ve learned of the proposed building of a $100 million mosque and Islamic cultural center in close proximity to ground zero, the controversy has only become more widespread.

As the debate goes on, I find it more and more absurd. It’s become increasingly politicized. Democrats in close races are flipping their positions and joining the overwhelming majority of Americans who oppose the building of the mosque. Even worse, President Obama’s message on the subject has been nothing short of incoherent and incomprehensible and left Americans wondering, where does our president stand?

I suspect that many of you have mosque exhaustion. Even so, the debate must go on. I’ve made my point clear in past columns: Of course Muslims have a legal right to build the mosque, but this isn’t a legal issue and it doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do.

We live in a country where the right to free speech is held in the highest regard. Those who oppose the mosque have every right to speak out and express their outrage. For Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to discourage what is our First Amendment right is disgraceful.

Obama, a “legal scholar,” is just as dumbfounded about the law as he is about the First Amendment. On Aug. 13, after weeks of silence from the White House on the issue, he stood there, surrounded by a group of Muslim-Americans, and proclaimed that the builders of the mosque have the constitutional right to build a worship center wherever they please.

He said, “I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else, and that includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in Lower Manhattan.”

Just one day later, the president “clarified” his statement, saying, “I was not commenting, and I will not comment, on the wisdom of making the decision to put a mosque there.”

If this isn’t pandering, I don’t know what is.