Compare these two statements from President Obama regarding the so-called mosque at ground zero:

Friday:

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.

Saturday:

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.

So what is he really saying? Many Republicans have shamelessly claimed that this community center/mosque is tangible symbol that Muslims won a battle at ground zero, essentially declaring war on Islam as opposed to a war on terrorism, and implicitly attaching freedom of religion in this country. Here is a statement from Newt Gingrich:

There is nothing surprising in the president’s continued pandering to radical Islam What he said last night is untrue and in accurate. The fact is this is not about religious liberty.

But the President seems unable to clearly state his position or defend freedom of religion.

The ironic part of this entire discussion is that it falls to the left to defend the religious liberty of this group, while those on the right, who claim to be the most religious and one would think have the most to lose from attacks on religious freedom, apparently believe that Islam is not an acceptable religion.  This stance seemed to reach a pinnacle in the following statement by Bryan Fisher, of the American Family Association.

I have said this thing should not be built. I have appealed to every construction firm in the city of New York not to take a dime of tainted money to build this thing. It’s going to be a memorial to the Muslim martyrs. It’s going to be a memorial to the conquest of Allah and Islam on 9/11. That’s what this whole thing is about. And even worse, I believe, it’s going to be a terrorist training center. It’s going to be a center for the inculcation of jihadist ideas.

Permits, in my judgment, should not be granted to build even one more mosque in the United States of America. Not one! We ought to be done with the building of mosques in the United States of America. I’m not saying go out and tear down the ones that are there. I’m saying we should not issue building permits for a single additional mosque in the United States of America.

Update: Maureen Dowd weighs in:

So look where we are. The progressive Democrat in the White House, the first president of the United States with Muslim roots, has been morally trumped by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, two moderate Republicans who have spoken bravely and lucidly about not demonizing and defaming an entire religion in the name of fighting its radicals.

Criticizing his fellow Republicans, Governor Christie said that while he understood the pain and sorrow of family members who lost loved ones on 9/11, “we cannot paint all of Islam with that brush.”

He charged the president with trying to turn the issue into a political football. But that is not quite right. It already was a political football and the president fumbled it.