President Obama condemned the "inexcusable rhetoric" from Republican candidates and implored that "we can't suggest that Islam is the root of the problem." And yet, in direct conflict with these words was the primary political objective of his historic address, to promote a counterterror program that suggests Islam is the root of radicalization and Muslims are the lone demographic prone to becoming radicalized. The Baltimore speech, essentially, was an exercise in masterful doublespeak—President Obama used the laudatory rhetoric about Islam that Muslims so desperately wanted to hear, while warning about the threat of Islamic radicalization to mitigate the fears of everybody else.

XREF: Connects to analysis of political doublespeak and how leaders manage contradictory constituencies.

Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Unde…, loc. 325