Why won't president say 'Islamic terror'? Could it be ...
The latest obsession of the conservative hive mind appears to be President Obama's reluctance to say the words "Islamic" and "terrorism" in the same sentence. It's now gotten to be such a "thing" that on Fox the other night, Bill O'Reilly grandly proclaimed it "Day Four of the Jihadist Controversy", warning that the president's refusal to say the magic words has put America in "grave danger."
(For other prime examples of the genre see here and here and here and here.)
I guess it's not surprising. If you're trying to gin up fear of Muslims in general, making them all responsible for the crimes of a few and warning that Muslims must be barred from immigrating to our country, it might get pretty frustrating to see the president going around making "pro-Islamic" statements such as:
- "The Islam that we know is a faith devoted to the worship of one God, as revealed through The Holy Qur'an. It teaches the value and the importance of charity, mercy, and peace."
- "Islam is a faith that brings comfort to people. It inspires them to lead lives based on honesty, and justice, and compassion."
- "The face of terror is not the true faith of Islam. That's not what Islam is all about. Islam is peace. These terrorists don't represent peace. They represent evil and war."
- "When we think of Islam we think of a faith that brings comfort to a billion people around the world. Billions of people find comfort and solace and peace. And that's made brothers and sisters out of every race -- out of every race."
- "Islam is a vibrant faith. Millions of our fellow citizens are Muslim. We respect the faith. We honor its traditions. Our enemy does not. Our enemy doesn't follow the great traditions of Islam. They've hijacked a great religion."
What's the president up to in saying such things? Doesn't he understand the true nature of the threat against us? As Rudy Giuliani and others have surmised, maybe it's his Islamic upbringing and heritage coming through. However, I don't think that explanation holds water. To my knowledge, President Bush didn't have an Islamic upbringing.
