As this lopsided debate unfolded, President Obama qualified his earlier statements in support of the project by saying that while he affirms the religious rights of all people, he was not in saying this commenting "on the wisdom of making a decision to put a mosque there." Obama was quickly adapting to right-wing pressure; when Gainesville, Florida, minister Terry Jones announced his plan to burn the Koran on September 11, Obama did not argue that such an act was offensive, that it constituted an attack on religious freedom, or that it was reminiscent of Ku Klux Klan cross burnings in the South, but that it threatened "national security" and would put US soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan "in harm's way": "This could increase the recruitment of individuals who'd be willing to blow themselves up in American cities or European cities." Obama's summoning the specter of suicide bombers in America's cities only further stirred the pot of Islamophobic hatred.

XREF: Connects to broader literature on securitization theory — how political actors elevate issues to security matters to justify exceptional measures.

Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politi…, loc. 524