HENRY: You going for a swim?
BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Absolutely.
HENRY: You're getting on the water today or tomorrow?
OBAMA: I think we're going to go tomorrow and as I just said, Ed, I'm not going to let you guys take a picture of me without my shirt on but there will be proof. Because you guys will tease me just like the last time. I was on the front page of every -- people commenting.
HENRY: What do you think about the reaction to your speech about the mosque?
OBAMA: Well, the, you know, my intention was to simply let people know what I thought, which was that in this country, we treat everybody equally 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 a decision to put a mosque there. I was commenting very specifically on the right that people have that dates back to our founding. That's what our country is about. And I think it's very important that, you know, as difficult as some of these issues are, we stay focused on who we are as a people and what our values are all about.
This blog continues the discussion that we began with Epic Journey: The 2008 Elections and American Politics (Rowman and Littlefield, 2009).The latest book in this series is Divided We Stand: The 2020 Elections and American Politics.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Filling Gaps in the White House Website, Part 47
The president's Ramadan remarks at an Iftar dinner about the Ground Zero controversy are on the White House website.