President Obama’s comments last night at the White House were viewed as a clear endorsement of the mosque proposed for construction near Ground Zero. Both NYC tabs wooded his speech, with big-type headlines that left little room for parsing: “Allah Right By Me” (The Post), and “Prez: Build The Mosque” (a somewhat more subdued DN).

Obama’s own words were pretty much to the point. Let’s review:

“…Let me be clear: As a citizen, and as President, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as anyone else in this country. 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.”

But then today, during a trip to the Gulf Coast with First Lady Michelle Obama and one of the couple’s two daughters, Sasha, the president seemed to walk his statement back a bit – or at the very lear, add some nuance to it – telling reporters (according to the pool report):

“Well, 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.”

“I was commenting very specifically on the right people have that dates back to our founding. That’s what our country is about.”

“And I think it’s very important, as difficult as some of these issues are, that we stay focused on who we are as a people and what our values are all about.”

Interesting.

So, if I get this right, the president is saying the developers have a right to build wherever they want, but is refusing to say if he thinks it’s a good idea to build on such a sensitive site – a subject on which a few people, including Gov. David Paterson and AG Andrew Cuomo’s running mate, Rochester Mayor Bob Duffy, weighed in.

Duffy initially acknowledged, as Obama did, that the mosque CAN be built within blocks of Ground Zero, but then went on to say that doesn’t make it a good idea, suggesting perhaps a different location is in order. (That was different that Cuomo’s simple “it’s allowed due to freedom of religion” stance, and Duffy later sought to clarify).

Paterson went so far as to offer an unspecified parcel of state land as a potential alternative mosque development site – an offer that turned out to be illegal. He then said he was merely trying to offer assistance to the developers in finding a less-controversial location for their project, and at least one seems open to talking.

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