Conservative pundits: Obama summit logo a 'Muslim crescent'

For the second time in the past few months, conservative commentators see something sinister in an Obama administration logo.

Following a controversy in February over what some said was a "Muslim crescent" in the logo of the US Missile Defense Agency, some commentators are saying they see the same thing in the thin, white crescent that borders the logo of President Barack Obama's Nuclear Security Summit.

"That’s weird … Obama’s Nuclear Summit logo is an Islamic crest," writes Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit.

The new talking point appears to have started with a New York Post column by Michael Goodwin published on Wednesday.

"The crescent, often with a single or multiple stars, is the main symbol of Islam," Goodwin wrote. "So now there is something like it at an official presidential event, prominently displayed in photographs being beamed around the world."

Goodwin continued: "No, I am not suggesting President Obama is a secret Muslim. But I am certain the crescent-like design of the logo is not a coincidence, especially at an event where Iran's nuclear ambition and al Qaeda's search for a bomb are prime topics.

"Obama has been open about his aim to improve America's relations with Muslims. His bowing and apologies are nauseating, but they are consistent with his goal."

Naturally, Fox News jumped into the fray.

"That's the same thing you see on the flags of Turkey, Algeria, Tunisia and Pakistan," Gretchen Carlson said on Fox & Friends Wednesday. "And what they do they have in common? They're all Muslim nations."

The claim that a crescent in a government logo proves an Obama agenda to court Muslim nations is nearly a word-for-word echo of February's controversy, when the Drudge Report ran images of the Missile Defense Agency's logo, claiming it resembled the flag of a Muslim nation.

"The Obama administration’s determined effort to reduce America’s missile defense capabilities initially seemed to be just standard Leftist fare," blogger Frank Gaffney wrote at BigGovernment, but the new agency logo "suggests, however, that something even more nefarious is afoot."

But in that case, the MDA logo's crescent faced the opposite direction of Muslim nations' flags, and resembled only the flag of the Nation of Islam.

And, as Matt Corley points out at ThinkProgress, an MDA spokesman called the claim "ridiculous" and said the logo had been in use at the agency prior to the 2008 election.

The following video was broadcast on Fox & Friends, Wednesday April 14, 2010, and uploaded to the Web by MediaMatters.