Obama endorsement of Ground Zero Mosque puts Dems on spot

President Barack Obama’s endorsement of the Ground Zero mosque has transformed an emotion-laden local dispute in New York into a nationwide debate overnight, setting nervous Democrats on edge and creating potentially dramatic political implications in the upcoming midterm elections.
Key Republicans think the president bought himself some political trouble by using his White House bully pulpit to announce his support for a controversial plan to build an Islamic center just blocks from nearly 3,000 people died in Manhattan at the hands of Islamic extremists on 9/11.

“Those headlines are not going to play well in Peoria,” said one GOP congressional aide, who called Obama’s remarks “a provocative act.”

Empire State Democrats, known for being outspoken, stayed notably mute in response to Obama’s comments at the Iftar dinner, a community meal to break the fast during Ramadan. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who is expected to handily win reelection, has not taken a firm stand on the issue despite weeks of prodding from reporters. There also was no statement from Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, running for governor.

Obama has put Democrats from coast to coast in the tough position of having to weigh in on an issue they’d rather duck. Prior to his speech, a few candidates tried with limited success to make the proposed mosque an issue outside of the tri-state area around New York City. Now any Democrat facing an election – less than three months away – can be put in the uncomfortable position of being asked to reject the president’s stand or side with him.

Several New York Democrats either involved with members of Congress or strategists said privately that they are not happy about the speech because it puts them in a bind. A recent CNN polls found two-thirds of Americans oppose building the mosque in the neighborhood around Ground Zero.

They're afraid to be up front in the same way as New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who got national press for supporting the mosque but who is not facing a reelection campaign.

It’s going to be one of the most memorable – and debated statements – of the president’s first two years in office. It’s either what people always hoped about Obama, whose father was a Muslim, or what they always suspected about him.

“He’s right, of course, about freedom of religion being a cornerstone of our country (nice to see a Dem mention that),” an influential Republican aide said. “But it’s not something over which the federal government has control, it’s terribly divisive, and he went out of his way to buy trouble when he was perfectly correct in saying it was a local issue. I think it’s not going to buy him any goodwill he didn’t already have, but that it will drive middle America crazy that he’s getting involved.”