DAMAGE ASSESSMENT – AT 8:35 A.M. ET:  In diving into the Ground Zero mosque controversy, President Obama handed the Republicans an unexpected gift.  Democratic strategists are reportedly floored, dismayed, that the president would commit such an obvious political blunder.  Damage assessment is underway, as reported by Byron York in the Washington Examiner:

Now, we are beginning to see the extent of the damage Obama's stand has done to a Democratic Party already anxious about its prospects this November. When Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid -- normally one of the president's most reliable allies -- announces that he "thinks that the mosque should be built someplace else," then there is a problem.

Other Democrats will surely follow. While Obama's position is "defensible," former Democratic Rep. Martin Frost wrote recently in Politico, "it will not play well in the parts of the country where Democrats need the most help." According to RealClearPolitics, there are 27 House Democrats in races that now lean Republican, and there are another 30 Democrats in races that are judged toss-ups. (There are just four Republicans in races that lean Democratic or are toss-ups.) Do most of those endangered Democrats really want to spend their time defending the president's position on the Ground Zero mosque?...

...To Republican strategists, the mosque fits into a pattern of issues in which Obama is not just disconnected from the mainstream but actually opposed to the positions of a majority of Americans. Most people don't want the mosque; Obama favors it. Most people support the Arizona immigration law; Obama opposes it. Most people opposed the Democratic health care bill; Obama pushed it through. In each case, Obama and his Democratic allies knew what the majority of Americans wanted and ignored it.

COMMENT:  York points out that, while the president's mosque stand may be spun as a case of "standing on principle," Americans eventually become weary of a national leader who consistently defies them.  Americans gave Obama the benefit of many doubts in the 2008 election, and now those doubts, especially the ones involving Obama's feelings about his own country, are surfacing once more. 

At the same time, Republican Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey, who's doing a terrific job, warned his party yesterday not to carry the mosque issue too far.  He's right.  There's an old line in politics:  "When your opponent is committing suicide, don't interfere."  Republicans have stated their cased, based on sensitivity toward the victims of 9-11, and the president's apparent coldness toward those victims.  The point has been made, and we must avoid the spectacle of some Republicans beating the issue or making coarse comments, risking a public backlash.

August 17, 2010