Mosque Speech Brilliant or Misguided?

President Obama's decision to support an Islamic center and mosque near Ground Zero (summary here, full transcript from the Washington Post here) is today's hot topic among bloggers. A few takes from the left and right:

• Glenn Greenwald, Salon: "This is one of the most impressive and commendable things Obama has done since being inaugurated." Remember, "there is virtually no political gain to be had from doing it, and substantial political risk."
• Allahpundit, Hot Air: "C’mon, did anyone expect differently? ... The left has invested so much energy over the past month patting itself on the back for its moral superiority that they’d have wigged out if he had sided against them here. He can deny them a public option, but god help him if he denies them a Teachable Moment at the wingnuts’ expense."

• Greg Sargent, Plum Line blog: The speech "transcends the politics of the moment, and will go down as a defining and perhaps even a breakthrough performance. Obama recognized that this dispute is a seminal one that goes to the core of our running argument about pluralism and minority rights and to the core of who we are. He understood that the gravity of the moment required an equally large and momentous response. And he delivered."
• Pamela Geller, Atlas Shrugs: "Is the president incapable of common decency? ... He has, in effect, sided with the Islamic jihadists."

(More Ground Zero stories.)