1. America missed a golden opportunity to showcase its Constitutional freedoms. The instinctive response of Americans should have been the same as President Obama's: Muslims have every right to build there. Where one religion can build a church, so can all religions.
2. The First Amendment comes down to this: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." It does not come down to: "The First Amendment gives me the right to shout the N-word 11 times on the radio to aninoffensive black woman, and when you attack me for saying it, you are in violation of my First Amendment rights."
Here's the first two poins from Roger Ebert's post about the mosque proposed in New York City. If only we were all capable of analysis and discourse at this level. Follow the link for the rest of the post.