Every year it's the same thing: some American Muslim goes nuts and kills a lot of non-Muslim Americans....

...and then the American elites make dire warnings about "possible backlash" by average Americans...you know, those non-elite types who "cling" to their guns and religion.

This time it's the Homeland Security Secretary, Janet Napolitano:

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — The U.S. Homeland Security secretary says she is working to prevent a possible wave of anti-Muslim sentiment after the shootings at Fort Hood in Texas.


Janet Napolitano says her agency is working with groups across the United States to try to deflect any backlash against American Muslims following Thursday's rampage by Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, a Muslim who reportedly expressed growing dismay over the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The shootings left 13 people dead and 29 wounded.

Napolitano was in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday for talks with security officials and a meeting with women university students in Abu Dhabi.

It would have been nice if Secretary Napolitano hadn't decided to use her trip to an Arab country to raise fears about the xenophobia of the average American.

It would have been even nicer if she hadn't raised the subject without any evidence at all of American backlash against Muslims.

It would have been nicest of all if she had condemned Muslim "backlash" against Americans for imagined slights and grievances.