Obama's Muddled Message

by Gary Bauer, Contributing Author: I read the president's speech to the Islamic Society of Baltimore and found that it was a very muddled message. Below are a few quotes from the speech followed by my response.

BARACK OBAMA: But on top of that, as Muslim Americans, you also have another concern -- and that is your entire community so often is targeted or blamed for the violent acts of the very few.

RESPONSE: Actually, there is very little blaming of the "entire" Muslim community. There is anger over the delusional mindset of Obama and others arguing that the jihadists have NOTHING to do with Islam.

BARACK OBAMA: No surprise, then, that threats and harassment of Muslim Americans have surged.

RESPONSE: There is no real evidence of any significant increase in anti-Muslim bias, although anti-Semitism is growing as Muslim immigration to America increases.

BARACK OBAMA: For more than a thousand years, people have been drawn to Islam's message of peace. And the very word itself, Islam, comes from salam -- peace.

RESPONSE: Islam has a long history of war. Its founder was a wielder of the sword. And "Islam" also means "submission."

BARACK OBAMA: The world's 1.6 billion Muslims are as diverse as humanity itself.

RESPONSE: They are indeed diverse. But seven of the ten worst deniers of human rights are Muslim nations. Coincidence?

BARACK OBAMA: A Muslim American designed the skyscrapers of Chicago.

RESPONSE: He must have been a good architect. So what? Muslims knocked down the biggest skyscrapers of New York City.

BARACK OBAMA: Muslim Americans keep us safe.

RESPONSE: Yes, and Muslim Americans in Boston, Fort Hood, San Bernardino, Washington, D.C., New York and Chattanooga have tried to kill us.

BARACK OBAMA: . . . it is undeniable that a small fraction of Muslims propagate a perverted interpretation of Islam. This is the truth.

RESPONSE: It is not a small fraction. If it were, then so much of the Muslim world would not reject religious liberty and embrace anti-Semitism.

I could go on, but you get the point.

Obama's Contradiction - One of the overall themes of the president's speech yesterday was religious tolerance and reassuring the Muslim audience that their right to practice their faith will be safeguarded. That has been a fundamental tenet of our country from the very beginning.

The problem is that the president has been the major violator of that tenet when it comes to traditional Catholics and evangelical Christians. He has regularly attacked Christian liberty and been struck down several times by the Supreme Court, even at times on 9-to-0 votes.

Obama has shown disdain for traditional Christians, referring to them as "clinging" to their Bibles. He has attempted to exploit the Christian faith by suggesting that Jesus was a big government advocate who would support his programs.

And at the very time he gave this speech, his army of Justice Department attorneys and left-wing allies are trying to make sure that no Christian in America can refuse, on the grounds of freedom of religion, to participate in a same-sex marriage.

I will applaud some of the good rhetoric in his speech when I see the president apologize to the Little Sisters of the Poor and the Christian owners of Hobby Lobby.

Stop Blaming Us! Of course the left-wing media are hailing the president's mosque speech, and they are also wagging their fingers at the American people. Here's how the Washington Post explained it:

"Obama's remarks came at a time of growing fear and division in the country, a climate that in recent months has unnerved many American Muslims and surprised senior White House officials."

American Muslims are "unnerved"? Forgive me if my first thought after Muslim supremacists kill us is not what the impact is on the Muslim community.

In the wake of the Paris and San Bernardino attacks, the whole country is unnerved by a commander-in-chief who calls our enemy "the JV team," denies the obvious, and doesn't have a strategy!

I am unnerved every time I go through the security line at Reagan National Airport. Most Americans, in a country that has fought hard for the equality of the sexes, are unnerved when they see a woman in a full burka.

I am unnerved every time I see a report of Middle Eastern men taking pictures of a military base or a dam or a school.

I wonder if the women in Germany were unnerved as they were raped and molested by Muslim men? Do you think Israeli Jews are unnerved when they walk down the streets of Jerusalem knowing that any Muslim they pass might plunge a knife into them?

What about the 3,000 Americans on 9/11? I doubt many in the Twin Towers or on the airplanes that day were feeling very comfortable.

If American Muslims are so unnerved that we are bothered by terrorism, maybe they should be saying more about the sickness that is flourishing within their faith. I am still waiting for the Million Muslim march against anti-Semitism and jihad.

Now obviously not all Muslims are doing these things. But I have zero tolerance for the left's bashing of Americans who care about freedom, religious liberty and the safety of their families.
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Gary Bauer is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families

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