America, the Muslim nation

The blogosphere is abuzz over President Obama's comment to a French interviewer:

In an interview with Laura Haim on Canal Plus, a French television station, Mr. Obama noted that the United States also could be considered as “one of the largest Muslim countries in the world.”

...“And one of the points I want to make is, is that if you actually took the number of Muslim Americans, we’d be one of the largest Muslim countries in the world,” Mr. Obama said. “And so there’s got to be a better dialogue and a better understanding between the two peoples.”

Roger Simon notes:According to Wikipedia, the US ranks thirty-eighth with a Muslim population of some 4.5 million (about one and half percent of our population - others, such as Pew, see it as even smaller [Much smaller - 1.6 million - EoZ]). Indonesia is first at over two hundred and seven million. A slip of the tongue? A meaningless statement? Perhaps.

But could you ever imagine President Obama saying that the United States, with probably double or triple the number of Jews than Muslims, could be considered the second-largest Jewish country in the world? Can you imagine the firestorm that would result at such a statement?

For that matter, imagine the outcry if Obama more accurately characterized the US as one of the largest Christian countries in the world?