First came the outrage over plans for a mosque near the World Trade Centre in New York and now there is a Florida church’s plan to burn copies of the Quran. Caught up in it all is President Barack Obama, who would rather be talking about something – anything – else. Two months before the fall elections, when Obama is trying to convince Americans that Democrats are squarely focused on the economy, the last thing he needed was another heated disturbance flap about Muslims, churning up lingering doubts among some Americans about Obama’s religious sympathies and his resolve against terror.

Slow to weigh in last month on the New York mosque question, Obama’s team moved quickly this week to speak out forcefully against plans by a small Florida church to torch copies of the Muslim holy book on Saturday, the ninth anniversary of the 9-11 terror attacks.

General David Petraeus, the top US and Nato commander in Kabul, warned that the church’s actions could inflame public opinion in a way that endangers US troops and undermines efforts to stabilise the situation in Afghanistan.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates echoed Petraeus. Attorney General Eric Holder called it idiotic. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said it was disgraceful. Obama adviser David Axelrod went with un-American, and held out hope the pastor of the church would come to his senses. “The reverend may have the right to do what he’s doing, but it’s not right,” Axelrod said on morning television. The administration hoped to rein in the story by speaking out clearly and with one voice.

It is a measure of the intense emotions attached to matters of religion and politics in the post 9-11 world.

It also is a measure of how much Obama’s team wanted to change the subject. Obama spent Wednesday in Cleveland, Ohio, promoting his economic plans and reaching out to those he acknowledges are “frustrated and angry and anxious about the future.” He made no reference to the Quran plan.

Pollster Andy Kohut, director of the Pew Research Centre for the People & the Press, said large percentages of Americans believe Muslims are unfairly discriminated against in this country, so the administration probably has not incurred harm from taking on the church. But Obama “didn’t do himself any good by weighing in on the mosque controversy” in New York, Kohut added.

For weeks, as Republicans including Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich, both considered potential presidential candidates, denounced plans for the Muslim community centre and mosque in New York, the White House sidestepped the issue, insisting it was a local zoning matter.

Once the project cleared its final regulatory hurdle last month, Obama spoke out clearly in its defense. “This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable,” he said. From there, as Republicans fumed and most Democrats stayed silent, Obama’s message got more muddled. “I will not comment on the wisdom of making a decision to build a mosque there,” he said.

Several Democrats, notably including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, had no such reservations.

They said a mosque did not belong so close to the site of the toppled World Trade Center towers. Republicans went further, Gingrich accusing Obama of “pandering to radicalism.” House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio tried Wednesday to lump together the two issues, plans for the Quran-burning and the mosque, saying that, “just because you have the right to do something in America does not mean it’s the right thing to do.”

Whatever the arguments on either issue, anything that keeps Obama from being heard on the economy is not helpful. Nor is anything that stirs up questions about Obama’s religious leanings – he is a Christian whose late father was born a Muslim – and his priorities in fighting terrorism.

Obama has yet to clearly establish his religious identity with the public. A Pew poll released last month found that nearly one in five people incorrectly believe he is Muslim, up from 11 per cent in March 2009. Only a third of people think Obama is Christian, down from nearly half last year.