Mr. Obama and the Mosque

When I was teaching school, I gave an assignment for students to do a Civil War simulation. They began the simulation using only the resources and manpower available at time Fort Sumter was fired on and the Civil War began.

As each side made moves in the simulation, the North consistently challenged the South’s ability to do something based on lack of resources and lack of industry. By the end of the class, the students in the class had become so emotionally vested in their side of the issue that they continued the argument about what could have been done and what was impossible to do. They argued in every class they had, in the halls between classes and after school. For them, the issue had become an emotional one and not an exercise in logic.

Like my students, President Obama, in his address Friday night, failed to understand that the Mosque is an emotional issue and not a logical one.

One commentator said that Mr. Obama addressed the issue as a law professor and not as a politician. We all understand the legal rights of the Muslims and we know that the Constitution protects them as much as it protects us to build Christian churches. However, this whole argument is not about the legal rights of the Muslims to build a place of worship on private property, it is about the Muslims being sensitive to the pain that still exists for the people struggling with personal loss.

Once again, Mr. Obama has shown himself to be out of touch with the feelings of the general population. While he clearly understands the legal issues and the Constitutionality; he doesn’t understand the emotional issues that are in play. There is a clear difference between legality and emotional sensitivity.