It's Just Us

I missed the President's presser today, but I'm hearing it went very well. Of course the Park51 cultural center was brought up by Fox, and Obama gave the perfect answer. Read it all at the link, but this part really resonates:

The other reason it's important for us to remember that is because we've got millions of Muslim-Americans, our fellow citizens, in this country. They're going to school with our kids. They're our neighbors. They're our friends. They're our coworkers. And, you know, when we start acting as if their religion is somehow offensive, what are we saying to them?

"I've got Muslims who are fighting in Afghanistan, in the uniform of the United States armed services. They're out there putting their lives on the line for us, and we've got to make sure that we are crystal clear for our sakes and their sakes: They are Americans. And we honor their service. And part of honoring their service is making sure that they understand that we don't differentiate between 'them' and 'us.' It's just 'us.'"

I made sort of the same point in a related post at DetNews this afternoon relative to the Twin Towers Muslim prayer room, a compelling story that should also be read in full. Ground Zero and the tragedy of Ground Zero belongs to everyone -- Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Shiks, Hindus, atheists and probably a dozen other religions among the 70 countries who lost their citizens there. No one has the sole claim to dictate who what happens in that space.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]