For a president battling disastrous poll ratings, the announcement that a hitherto unknown Florida pastor was planning to burn copies of the Koran should have provided an opportunity to show he had what it takes. As Commander-in-Chief, Mr Obama has an unequivocal duty to protect the hundreds of thousands of American men and women serving on the front lines of their country's conflicts. And General David Petraeus, the commander of US forces in Afghanistan, had already issued a warning that Americans would be at risk from attack by Islamist extremists if the book-burning stunt went ahead.

Yet it took an international outcry from the world's leading Muslim nations before Mr Obama could be persuaded to intervene. Suddenly aware that relationships with key regional allies such as Indonesia and Pakistan were being imperilled by the publicity-seeking antics of a small-time cleric in rural Florida, the president finally made a statement. Speaking on American television yesterday morning, he appealed to Terry Jones, who leads a congregation of just 50 followers, to abandon his plans on the grounds that they would become a "recruitment bonanza" for al-Qaeda.

Mr Obama's ponderous response was in stark contrast to the sure-footed approach of Hillary Clinton, his Secretary of State. Speaking earlier in the week at a Ramadan dinner for Muslim leaders, she denounced Mr Jones's proposed stunt as "disrespectful and disgraceful".

America's First Amendment, which enshrines the right of every citizen to freedom of expression, means that the government is constitutionally constrained in how it goes about curbing such potentially inflammatory activities. In the Seventies, when the predominantly Jewish community in the Chicago suburb of Skokie asked the Supreme Court to ban a neo-Nazi rally there, the judges ruled that they were bound by the constitution not to intervene.

Even so, Mrs Clinton's handling of this latest drama has made Mr Obama look out of touch, seemingly lacking in the instinctive leadership qualities that Americans expect. Muslim sensibilities might not be top of every American voter's priorities in the wake of the recent failed terrorist plots in Detroit and New York. Indeed, many Americans, particularly those that support the Tea Party's hard-Right agenda, will applaud burning the Koran as a justifiable protest against the radical Islamist ideology that inspired the September 11 hijackers. But it is a different matter when such antics place the lives of American citizens in jeopardy.

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At a time when Mr Obama's political opponents are seeking to exploit, to their own advantage, the fact that the president's middle name is "Hussein", he needs to take extra care when dealing with such sensitive issues. Instead, his less-than-convincing performance has seen many Democrats come to regret their enthusiastic backing two years ago. There is a growing sense in Washington that the party backed the wrong candidate, a view that is likely to harden if, as is now widely predicted, it is humiliated in the mid-term elections. If that is the case, then once the race for the Democratic nomination in 2012 begins, Mrs Clinton can expect to come under ferocious pressure to make amends.

Full article @ Telegraph UK

Oh, it took this to get it? Whatever!  Anyway...  about time the DC Dems woke up.

Hillary 2012!!!!