By Adam Nichols
DNAinfo News Editor
DOWNTOWN — A day after giving his support to the Ground Zero mosque, President Barack Obama backtracked by questioning the wisdom of its location.
Speaking at a White House celebration of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan Friday, Obama had said support for the center was vital to "commitment to religious freedom."
"My intention was simply to let people know what I thought, which was that in this country we treat everybody equally and in accordance with the law, regardless of race, regardless of religion," Obama said during a visit to the Gulf Coast on Saturday.
"I was not commenting, and I will not comment, on the wisdom of making the decision to put a mosque there," Obama continued.
"I was commenting very specifically on the right people have that dates back to our founding. That's what our country is about."
Obama's comments on Friday were welcomed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who supports the building of the Muslim center on Park Place, just blocks from Ground Zero.
But opponents of the proposed Ground Zero mosque and community center reacted with fury.
"The president should be ashamed of himself for doing this," Tim Brown, a first responder on 9/11 who has sued the city in an effort to stop the development on Park Place, told the Daily News.
"This confirms to me personally what I have thought of him all along. He is anti-American. This is so upside down."
