President Barack Obama's remarks about terrorist groups like al-Qaeda and the Islamic State not being connected to the Islamic faith and how radical Islamists shouldn't be labeled as terrorists is constantly presuming Americans to be bigots, according to Bill Kristol, editor of "The Weekly Standard."
Obama, speaking at his summit on countering violent extremism on Wednesday, sought to strike a balance between appealing for more acceptance of Muslim-Americans while emphasizing the need to remain vigilant against radicals who could turn violent.
"We are not at war with Islam. We are at war with people who have perverted Islam," Obama said, adding that Muslim leaders "need to do more to discredit the notion that our nations are determined to suppress Islam."
"Why did he feel the need to lecture us all as if we're bigots at heart and he's the one who has to explain to us that we've done some bad things in our life, too?" Kristol said Thursday on "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV.
During his speech, the president went to lengths to avoid linking extremism to the Muslim faith. "They try to portray themselves as religious leaders, holy warriors in defense of Islam. We must never accept the premise that they put forward because it is a lie. Nor should we grant these terrorists the religious legitimacy that they seek. They are not religious leaders. They are terrorists," he said.
"Why does he even have to weigh in on this as if he thinks he's a president of a country that's full of people who are just one step from going out and assaulting their neighbors who are Muslims ..." Kristol responded.
"In a way, it shows he can't resist being the high-school or even middle-school principal who's trying to teach a lesson to these unruly fellow citizens of his who believe in God and other things and probably don't have the politically correct view of Islam."
Meanwhile earlier this week, the White House attracted new criticism for papering over religious aspects of a mass-beheading of Coptic Christians by the terrorist organization on Sunday, UK MailOnline reported.
After a video titled "A Message Signed With Blood to the Nation of the Cross," surfaced showing 21 Christians being beheaded on a beach, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest issued a 192-word reaction condemning the brutal killings as "despicable" and "cowardly" but made no mention of the religion of the killers or their victims.
"We are not treating these people as part of a religion," a senior administration official said Monday during a conference call with reporters. "We're treating them as terrorists. We call them our enemies and we'll be treating them as such."
However, Pope Francis stated that the victims "were killed simply for the fact that they were Christians."
"The blood of our Christian brothers and sisters is a testimony which cries out to be heard. It makes no difference whether they be Catholics, Orthodox, Copts or Protestants. They are Christians!" he said Monday at the Vatican, speaking in his native Spanish.
Bill Cristol's video can be watched here.
