The Cynical Brilliance Of Imam Rauf

by Victor Davis Hanson - August 18th, 2010 - National Review

Almost everything about the proposed Ground Zero mosque was cynically brilliant.

Start with the notion of a “Cordoba Initiative.” In the elite modern Western mind, Cordoba has been transmogrified into a mythical Lala Land of interfaith tolerance. To invoke the city is to prove one’s ecumenical credentials. Just ask our president, who, in his June 2009 Cairo speech, fantastically claimed that the Muslim city taught us tolerance while Christians were launching the Inquisition (1478) — quite a feat two and a half centuries after most of the Muslims of Cordoba had fled, converted, or been cleansed during the city’s fall (1236) to the Christian forces of the Reconquista. But no matter, we got the president’s drift about who was supposedly tolerant and who was not.

The repeated knee jerk reaction of our President touting the superiority of Islam over Christianity is getting pretty old. To anyone with a brain (who is not also an anti-American bigot) Cordoba is a symbol of Muslim triumphalism, conquering the unfaithful and subjugating them. The tyranny inflicted on "others" by Muslims was a major reason Muslim conquerors lost all of their lands. Muslims stand as a symbol of how some who are in power treat others, with hate, intolerance and contempt.

So why does Obama keep indicating his fervent belief in the greatness of Islam? Why did he say, with his victory as President, America is no longer a Christian nation?

He has proven repeatedly that he is not much of Constitutional scholar, even though he exaggerates his work history by claiming to be a professor of Constitutional Law when he was nothing more than a lecturer. He never held the position of professor. The courtesy of calling all college teachers "professor" does not make up for the fact that the title on his pay check did not agree.

It appears he is not much of a historian either. As Professor Hanson notes. His recent admonition to the American people about the meaning of "Cordoba" was totally butchered history. Plus, it was not even representative of the lesson Obama wanted to teach even if you fixed the centuries apart concatenation of events. In reality it was simply the most insulting interpretation of Catholic actions that could be made. With the proven hatred that Obama has for the British it is ironic that he touted the British Episcopalian interpretation of events meant to insult Catholics, when Obama really meant to insult all Christians.

As Obama spews his carefully couched vitriol behind his mild manners and polite choice of words, it is still easy to see his sloppy concern for truth and his unflinching belief that the Islam call to prayers is “one of the prettiest sounds on Earth... "

I wonder how many Americas agree?