He did it again...

In a recent post I criticized our president for his undue praise of Islam and historical inaccuracies in his Cairo speech to the Muslim world. Like so many liberal relativists, the president seems to believe there is some sort of moral equivalence between Western civilization (Dare I call it "Judeo-Christian?) and the barbarians who brought us 9-11 and those who support and encourage them. It's actually a prevalent attitude among the elite, especially the inside-the-Beltway elite: you know, the attitude that these poor, sweet babies wouldn't have done those nasty things had we Christians been more diplomatic in our dealings with the Muslim world over the centuries. Anyway, what bothered me most about the speech was his apparent disregard for historical truth. And now comes another...

I didn't have an opportunity to hear the president's address at Normandy the other day, so I made a point of reading it. It actually wasn't a bad speech, and I'm sure he delivered it well. But like the Cairo speech, there was no reference to the challenge we face today -- the War on Terrorism -- which I find a bit odd. Indeed, the name of the current conflict seems to have disappeared from most Washington rhetoric in recent months. And there was one part of the Normandy speech that bothered me. It always seems to be the president's religious references that lead to questions. Here's the quote:

"The nations and leaders that joined together to defeat Hitler's Reich were not perfect. We had made our share of mistakes, and had not always agreed with one another on every issue. But whatever God we prayed to, whatever our differences, we knew that the evil we faced had to be stopped. Citizens of all faiths and no faith came to believe that we could not remain as bystanders to the savage perpetration of death and destruction. And so we joined and sent our sons to fight and often die so that men and women they never met might know what it is to be free."

I'm not sure what to make of the "But whatever God we prayed to..." line. I think I can say with a high degree of certainty that those men on the Normandy beaches in June 1944 all prayed to the same God. And the "Citizens of all faiths and no faith" phrase causes me to recall how many Muslim leaders in the Near East actually thought Adolph Hitler was a sweet guy who, coincidentally, would also remove those pesky Jews from the world stage. Hey, Eisenhower called his mission a "crusade" but I suspect we won't hear that word used again on any future June 6. Ah, well, as I've said before, a little moral confusion and hyperbole are to be expected in politicians' speeches. It's so hard to be all things to all people when there are so many different special interests and so little time to pander to them.

And did you catch the White House comment about Judge Sotomayor, confirming that she is, indeed, a Catholic: "Judge Sotomayor was raised as a Catholic and attends church for family celebrations and other important events." Hmmm, doesn't sound like that attendance is very regular.

Pray for them all: presidents, judges, terrorists, and for the conversion of all Muslims. After all, He did command us to "make disciples of all nations..."