A spokesman for President Barack Obama told reporters today that the White House is ready to move beyond the controversy surrounding the President’s statement last Friday about the planned ‘Ground Zero’ Mosque.
During a brief speech, Obama told guests who had been invited by the White House to celebrate the start of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan that, “As a citizen, and as President, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country. And that includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in Lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances.”
One day later, during a visit to the Gulf coast, the President clarified his remarks, telling reporters, “My intention was simply to let people know what I thought, which was that In this country we treat everybody equally and in accordance with the law, regardless of race, regardless of religion. I was not commenting and I will not comment on the wisdom of making the decision to put a mosque there.”
The President’s spokesman during the trip, White House deputy press secretary Bill Burton, also chimed in on Saturday, informing members of the press that Obama was not “backing off in any way from the comments he made last night.
“It is not his role as President to pass judgment on every local project. But it is his responsibility to stand up for the Constitutional principle of religious freedom and equal treatment for all Americans,” Burton said.
Today aboard Air Force One, Burton fielded several more questions regarding Obama’s comments, and attempted to put the issue to bed.
“I think we’ve had a pretty fulsome conversation about it,” Burton said. “I assume that people will continue to talk about it, but I think that we’ve addressed this to a pretty full extent.”