Posted on 04/09/2009 9:10:00 AM PDT by lewisglad
Europeans aren’t better than Americans—so I can’t figure out why our president is saying sorry to them instead of explaining what makes our country great.
I guess I had it coming to me. I mean, I did insult Old Europe this week when I said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe that President Obama’s suggestion that we should celebrate Europe’s union was “ridiculous.” I mocked the idea of celebrating Europe, saying, “What should we do, have a ‘celebrate Europe’ stamp?”
What Obama describes as “American exceptionalism” sounds like a political-science professor’s definition of nationalism, not a belief in America’s unique accomplishments and history.
So when a German tourist wound up his arm and slugged my 35-pound dog on Wednesday morning in Central Park for greeting him with too much exuberance, I should have been prepared. When I turned to him and said, “We don’t hit animals in this country,” he sneered at me and said, “I am German. I am lawyer.”
I called the cops and, God bless them, they were on the scene in less than five minutes. “Were they tourists?” the cops asked me when I explained what happened.
“Yes, Germans,” I said.
“Mmmhmm,” the cop said.
“Mmmhmm, what?” I asked.
“It happens a lot,” the cop said.
So, nasty European tourists have been known to hit dogs in Central Park. Who knew? It got me thinking. Of course, not all European tourists are dog beaters—most of them are pleasant, and I imagine more than a few of them love dogs. But they are not better than us, and I can’t for the life of me figure out what the hell our president is over there apologizing for.
Republicans have paid close attention to clues this week about Obama’s working definition of American exceptionalism. This examination does not mean we suspect he is anti-American, as some on the left have suggested. Waking up to news Tuesday that he’d visited our brave troops in Iraq before returning to Washington, D.C., I am quite certain, as I was Monday and the day before that, that Barack Obama loves his country.
But his definition of American exceptionalism differs from that of most Republicans. At just about every stop on his weeklong tour, Obama missed opportunities to remind audiences of America’s generosity and compassion by emphasizing our shortcomings and failures. He is wildly popular overseas (and at home), but instead of spending some of his abundant personal and political capital to deliver a clear and direct message that promoted and defended American values, he muddied the message by emphasizing occasions in which America had been “arrogant, dismissive, and derisive” toward Europe.
Liberals found it refreshing. Conservatives found it offensive. The way we see ourselves as Americans and the role of America in the world today is one of the greatest philosophical divides in this country.
Asked if he believed in American exceptionalism during his overseas trip, Obama said, “I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism.”
His suggestion that a belief in American exceptionalism is akin to the Brits’ belief in British exceptionalism and the Greeks’ belief in Greek exceptionalism played well in foreign capitals and at the United Nations. But what Obama describes as “American exceptionalism” sounds like a political-science professor’s definition of nationalism, not a belief in America’s unique accomplishments and history of unrivaled freedom, generosity, productivity, innovation, militaristic and diplomatic strength, and record as liberators, protectors, and defenders
Obama is just fulfilling his function of being TOTUS...he’s just so Totally Over The United States, you know?
If everyone is "exceptional", then by definition no-one is "exceptional".
He has done nothing that would suggest he loves this country, I’m not sure why the author seems so sure he does. If anything, he has done and said more things that reflect is contempt for this great country.
“I will stand with [the Muslims] should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.”
The winds are indeed blowing in an ugly direction for radical Muslims because we're killing them, so for liberals and al Qaeda “Hope N’ Change” has been elected.
Erkle at the blackboard.
What’s our dear leader doing there? I can’t quite make it out. I see something like “Relationships based on self-interest”, etc.
teaching law at the University of Chicago
A wolf in sheep's clothing! She cannot be trusted!
He has done nothing that would suggest he loves this country, I’m not sure why the author seems so sure he does. If anything, he has done and said more things that reflect is contempt for this great country.
Indeed. I posted a thread back in May of 2008 with the title: Has Barack Obama ever done anything in his life to suggest that he genuinely loves America?
I'm still waiting for a convincing example...
Why? For the same reason the Arab nations danced in the streets on 9/11.....that’s why.
Actually, a case can be made for British exceptionalism, too. In fact, the real case for exceptionalism is one that can be made for everywhere that has embraced Anglo-Saxon law (presumption of innocence, trial-by-jury) and free-market economics (though no where has ever been completely thoroughgoing in the latter).
There had been a case for Greek exceptionalism, but they gave it up when their nationalism dropped Romaioi in favor of Hellene.
Of course, Obama left off an example of a relationship based on self-interest: the relationship between an inexperienced politician and his own overweening aspirations to higher office.
He apologizes for America because he is a sorry excuse for a president.
During the campaign, no candidate would stand firm on American Exceptionalism. I’m pretty sure that, even in one of Palin’s inverviews, she skirted around it. The question was something like, “Do you believe America is the best country in the world?” She didn’t have a strong answer. Neither did McLame when he was asked something similar.
How hard is it to say, immediately: “YES!! America is the best country on earth. Here’s why...”?
Today, the University of Chicago released the following statement:
The Law School has received many media requests about Barack Obama, especially about his status as “Senior Lecturer.” From 1992 until his election to the U.S. Senate in 2004, Barack Obama served as a professor in the Law School. He was a Lecturer from 1992 to 1996. He was a Senior Lecturer from 1996 to 2004, during which time he taught three courses per year. Senior Lecturers are considered to be members of the Law School faculty and are regarded as professors, although not full-time or tenure-track. The title of Senior Lecturer is distinct from the title of Lecturer, which signifies adjunct status. Like Obama, each of the Law School’s Senior Lecturers have high-demand careers in politics or public service, which prevent full-time teaching. Several times during his 12 years as a professor in the Law School, Obama was invited to join the faculty in a full-time tenure-track position, but he declined. http://www.law.uchicago.edu/media/index.html
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