“One of the finest moments of his presidency. Obama didn’t just stand up for the legal right of the group to build the Islamic center. He voiced powerful support for their moral right to do so as well, casting it as central to American identity....Obama directly confronted the demagoguery at the core of much of the opposition to this project....Ultimately, though, Obama’s speech transcends the politics of the moment, and will go down as a defining and perhaps even a breakthrough performance.”
— Washington Post “Plum Line” blogger Greg Sargent in an August 14 posting.