Newt Gingrich, former House Speaker who led the Republican Revolution in 1994 and a likely future presidential candidate, offered some sage advice for President Obama regarding the Ground Zero Mosque and the cancelled (for now) Qur'an burning.
Obama came out early in support of the Ground Zero mosque. In front of a Muslim crowd, and resulting in rounds of applause the once-exalted Obama likely misses, he clearly made the case for the mosque being built where it was planned and argued that no one should try to stop the Imam from exercising his right to practice his religion. Of course, Obama missed the point that no one questions the right the build a mosque there, only the sense of doing so.
However, when a man in Florida proposed a Qur'an burning, the President had no problem coming out clearly against this act, and he argued against the Pastor's right to express his views in this way. The President was right to speak out against the Qur'an burning. It was insulting, incendiary and insensitive. Quite like the 9/11 mosque. And this is where Mr. Gingrich had some words for the President. "It's wrong to burn the Quran and it's wrong to build the mosque at ground zero, and both should be stopped," said the former-Speaker. The President should have been as straight forward with the Imam as he was with the pastor and oppose both efforts on the grounds of good taste, sensitivity and common sense.
Advice the President should have heeded.
Obama came out early in support of the Ground Zero mosque. In front of a Muslim crowd, and resulting in rounds of applause the once-exalted Obama likely misses, he clearly made the case for the mosque being built where it was planned and argued that no one should try to stop the Imam from exercising his right to practice his religion. Of course, Obama missed the point that no one questions the right the build a mosque there, only the sense of doing so.
However, when a man in Florida proposed a Qur'an burning, the President had no problem coming out clearly against this act, and he argued against the Pastor's right to express his views in this way. The President was right to speak out against the Qur'an burning. It was insulting, incendiary and insensitive. Quite like the 9/11 mosque. And this is where Mr. Gingrich had some words for the President. "It's wrong to burn the Quran and it's wrong to build the mosque at ground zero, and both should be stopped," said the former-Speaker. The President should have been as straight forward with the Imam as he was with the pastor and oppose both efforts on the grounds of good taste, sensitivity and common sense.
Advice the President should have heeded.
