Obama’s message of unity at mosque, GOP candidates’ responses

President Obama on Wednesday embraced Muslims in the United States as part of “one American family” and implicitly criticized the GOP presidential candidates in a warning to citizens to not be “bystanders to bigotry,” The New York Times reports.

In the visit to the Islamic Society of Baltimore, his first to a mosque in the United States as president, Obama recited phrases from the Koran and praised American Muslims as a crucial part of America’s history and vital to the nation’s future.

Meanwhile, Marco Rubio said at a town hall meeting in New Hampshire that Obama’s decision to give a speech at a mosque was another example of him dividing the country.

Donald Trump said in response to a Fox News question about Obama’s visit to the mosque, “maybe he feels comfortable there.”