For someone who wants the issue of the Park51 Muslim community center to, “slip off the national stage,” Nancy Pelosi sure has an odd way of showing it. Pelosi has recently come out not just in favour of building the facility, but also in favor of investigating opposition to the project.
Pelosi told San Francisco’s KCBS radio that:
“…there is no question there is a concerted effort to make this a political issue by some.”
“I join those who have called for looking into how is this opposition to the mosque being funded,” she said. “How is this being ginned up?”
Do what? Call me naive, but I can’t help thinking that this will have the exact opposite effect of Pelosi’s desired outcome. Not to mention that it is a stupid idea in the first place.
Whether you agree with the idea and location of the Cordoba House Project/Park51 or not — and I personally am very strongly in favour of the project both on religious freedoms and private property rights grounds — there is just no question that concerned individuals and groups have every right in the world to express their opposition to the project. For as much as proponents of Park51 have cited freedom of religion as the constitutional principle upon which their support for the project rests, so too can opponents cite freedom of speech. Their opposition cannot just be wished away by tossing around the ‘bigot’ word either.
Why Pelosi would want to run the risk of that debate is beyond me.
Democrats are understandably frustrated because they feel like Republicans are distracting voters from real and important issues leading up to November’s midterm elections by focusing on the Park51 controversy. In fact, Gene Healy has said as much himself right here at the Washington Examiner. That is a fair criticism and it also deserves to be heard.
But the best means of airing the grievance is not to call for an investigation into those who have chosen, for whatever reason, to oppose the construction of the Cordoba House. Rather, Pelosi would be well advised to scrap her incredibly chilling tactics and present her case where it belongs: on the political campaign trail to voters who have continue to have serious concerns about the state of the country and what each party proposes to do about those concerns.
Pelosi’s current approach; however, is likely only to ramp up debate on the issue of Park51 on the national stage. The threat of an investigation will only add fuel to both the protesters and Republicans’ fire, providing them with further ammunition to talk about the project by railing against perceived attempts to quieten their legitimate concerns.
Whether the concerns themselves are legitimate or not will, ultimately, be beside the point. It will be Pelosi and others’ efforts to spearhead an investigation to tamp down on opposition that will be the point of contention. And far from steal any campaign thunder from Republicans, Pelosi’s efforts will only server to further stock their cupboards with examples of Democratic overreach and perceptions of unconstitutionality.
If Pelosi wants for the Park51 debate to slip off the national stage, she should simply stick to her comment about New Yorkers making their own urban development decisions and leave it at that. By failing to do so, Pelosi makes the issue as much of a political football as anyone else has so far if not more so.
