President Obama once again
insisted, at Wednesday's White House summit on "Countering Violent Extremism," that while terrorist groups may identify themselves as specifically Islamic, they do not represent the religion, saying "The terrorists do not speak for over a billion Muslims who reject their hateful ideology. They no more represent Islam than any mad man who kills innocents in the name of God represents Christianity or Judaism or Buddhism or Hinduism." For many Republicans, this is not painting with a broad enough brush. The same people who would squeal if abortion bombers were consistently labeled Christian terrorists are outraged that the president will not do what ISIS wants and identify the terrorist group with Islam.
There's the polite version:
“Part of this is a semantic battle, but it’s a semantic battle that goes to deeper issues,” said Peter Wehner, a veteran of the past three Republican administrations and a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. “Self-deception is not a good idea in politics or international affairs. We’re lying to ourselves, and the world knows it.”
Or else the president isn't lying to himself but rather has a different worldview than this longtime, up to and including George W. Bush, Republican foreign policy hand. Inconceivable, right? Then there's the ... less polite version,
courtesy of Sen. Ted Cruz, who says Obama is "an apologist for radical Islam" who is guilty of "false moral relativism" for suggesting that other religions have from time to time been used as an explanation for murder, war, or terrorism.
Former New York City mayor and 2008 presidential primary disaster Rudy Giuliani also saw a chance to refresh his ongoing battle for relevance:
“I do not believe, and I know this is a horrible thing to say, but I do not believe that the president loves America,” Giuliani said during the dinner at the 21 Club, a former Prohibition-era speakeasy in midtown Manhattan. “He doesn’t love you. And he doesn’t love me. He wasn’t brought up the way you were brought up and I was brought up through love of this country.”
Ah, so Obama isn't giving ISIS what it wants by calling it Islamic because he's kind of Muslim-adjacent and un-American himself. Way to make Ted Cruz look rational and reasonable, Rudy.
Seriously, Obama is trying not to spread the view among Muslims around the world that they are properly at war with the United States and it with them. This should not be difficult to understand—at least, if you're not tempted by the holy war model yourself.