Obama’s Flawed Idea of ‘American Exceptionalism’
It has become a staple of criticism directed against the president on the right to accuse him of lacking a belief in “American exceptionalism” — the notion that our history, our Constitution, and our national character set us apart from other nations.
For many, this plays directly into the theme that the president is trying to fundamentally alter American society in ways that are inimical to our national identity, and that deny those traditions and values that define us as an exceptional people.
Of the latter, I have no doubt. President Obama is trying to unmoor us from a treasured and traditional past and set us adrift in unknown waters. His notion of “fundamental change” for America is so far beyond what is necessary to get us out of this recession, or even fix problems with our health care system, that he has lost sight of the safe harbor offered by our first principles and cherished heritage. Nor has he acted prudently. This alone should have caused the kind of emotional outpouring we’ve seen from the tea party movement and those who so strenuously spoke their mind at the health care town hall forums last summer.
What critics of these grassroots expressions of outrage fail to see is that the president’s broad attack on tradition is more than just a desire to address problems with the economy or health insurance. What the president seeks is nothing less than a basic alteration in the American experiment, a radical change in the way the American citizen relates to the federal government. It seems to have come as a surprise to our president and many of his supporters that there would be such fierce opposition to this idea. Why this is so defines the president’s idea of “exceptionalism” and his stated desire to redefine American identity.
In an excellent essay for National Review, Rich Lowry and Ramesh Ponnuru make the case that President Obama does not believe in American exceptionalism at all:
The survival of American exceptionalism as we have known it is at the heart of the debate over Obama’s program. It is why that debate is so charged. In his first year, Obama tried to avoid the cultural hot buttons that tripped up Bill Clinton and created the “gays, guns, and God” backlash of 1994. But he has stoked a different type of cultural reaction. The level of spending, the bailouts, and the extent of the intervention in the economy contemplated in health-care and cap-and-trade legislation have created the fear that something elemental is changing in the country. At stake isn’t just a grab bag of fiscal issues, but the meaning of America and the character of its people: the ultimate cultural issue.
The oft-heard lament from conservatives lately — “I want my country back” — has been twisted by the left into something mean, something ignorant, even racist. They aren’t listening. Nor can they fathom the depth of feeling that lament reveals. It is not an exaggeration to look at what the president has done since he’s taken office and say that it has undermined the very foundations of what makes us special. This “elemental changing” referred to by Messrs. Lowry and Ponnuru is sensed as an abandonment of the basic principles that define American exceptionalism — a state of being that most Americans do not want to give up, and won’t give up without a fight.
But does President Obama believe we are an exceptional people? Lowry and Ponnuru say no, that President Obama has actually rejected American exceptionalism. As proof, they offer the facts that he doesn’t wear a flag pin, that he has been “detached” from American history, and his now famous response to a direct question about exceptionalism:
I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism.
Case closed? Not exactly. Conor Friedersdorf makes the point that if one were to read what the president said in context it would be clear that his rhetoric is not that different from any other president’s:
I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism. I’m enormously proud of my country and its role and history in the world. If you think about the site of this summit and what it means, I don’t think America should be embarrassed to see evidence of the sacrifices of our troops, the enormous amount of resources that were put into Europe postwar, and our leadership in crafting an Alliance that ultimately led to the unification of Europe. We should take great pride in that.
And if you think of our current situation, the United States remains the largest economy in the world. We have unmatched military capability. And I think that we have a core set of values that are enshrined in our Constitution, in our body of law, in our democratic practices, in our belief in free speech and equality, that, though imperfect, are exceptional.
The president went on to say that “America has a continued extraordinary role in leading the world towards peace and prosperity…” These are hardly the words of someone who doesn’t believe in American exceptionalism. The question the NRO writers should have asked is: Does Obama believe in the traditional definition of American exceptionalism? I think we can safely say that he does not. Instead, he has substituted a new paradigm embraced by the left that holds America to be a work in progress; it holds that the ideal of America is exceptional, but the reality is not.
It sounds to me as if Obama loves America like an immature, insecure man loves his latest trophy wife. All is well when she turns out perfectly coifed and dressed at the company reception or theater premiere, but don’t let him catch you in the jeans and T shirt that got muddy while you weeded the garden. This love will endure only as long as the Botox and liftings hide your age because he will never value your character and endurance and basic goodness.
Great article rick you put it in a nut shell it is good to see so many people starting to wake up now, lets hope its not to late.
Liberals will only think our country great if it has been turned, by socialism and its “social jutsice,” into Zimbabwe.
Obama’s crime isn’t that he disbelieves in American exceptionalism, as indisputable as that charge might be. It’s twofold:
– He’s a bad man with an evil agenda, and has filled his Administration with kindred spirits;
– In keeping with the above, he’ll say anything at all to cross-dress his objectives into something his audience of the moment will find acceptable.
Need the indictment go beyond that?
The delusions of this author are difficult to describe.
“President Obama means well.”
Ya? Then, I’ve got a bridge to sell ya in Brooklyn, chump.
It’s not “exceptionalism” that is described above, it’s vanity, narcissism.
In Obama’s case, hubris might be the most appropriate.
Independent of what Obama truly believes about this country [can this author really be soooooooooo stupid as to believe a single word out of this man's mouth any longer?!], Obama is there to serve Obama alone.
And, yes, the fate of our country falls well behind that priority.
Just say no to socialized medicine and to our socialist president and his cronies. ABO 2012.
“President Obama means well.”
“President Obama means well…?”
President Obama means well is an absurd statement!
Fourteen months into his term of office and Obama has yet to do one single positive thing on behalf of America and the American people.
Get it through your thick skulls. Obama is first an Islamic Muslim and second a committed member of the “religion” of Black Liberation Theology.
When it comes to America the purpose of both of these “religions” is to cause as much destruction to it as possible.
The highest honor in Islam for ALL Muslims is Jihad.
Black Liberation Theology is a bastardized version of Christianity that preaches unbridled hatred of America, Caucasians and Jews. It teaches their children that the only right thing to do is inflict as much pain, suffering and damage as possible to Caucasians and Jews. For blacks to rise up and rip any and everything that Caucasians and Jews own out of their hands and give it to the black race.
And then this article, the analogies herein have the infuriating gall to bring racism into the equation without pointing out that Obama is probably the most intense and powerful racist that is alive on the face of Earth today? How damn sad, pathetic and unfair can anyone get when it comes to the degrading, humiliating and insulting damage that Obama has already inflicted to the members of his own race; the black people? Those who elected the man with so much earnest desire, dreams and hope in their hearts who now have nothing to show for it but chaos and turmoil.
We have a nation full of fools that elected Obama and the members of Congress that support him. Many of these people are as driven with hatred for America that Obama has.
Repeat this statement to yourself over and over everyday, “There is no desire in Obama when it comes to American exceptionalism.” The man knows exactly what he is doing. As President he has been 100% successful at achieving what he intends to do, which is total destruction of America!
Take ten minutes of time to do some basic, elementary level research about Islam and Black Liberation Theology.
Obama does not deserve any breaks or benefit of the doubt. Instead, he must be stopped!
As one commentator once observed, “progressives” do not love America. Rather, they are in love with their vision of what they can change it into, given unfettered access to power and a compliant populace.
It’s a “kinder, gentler” version of the “Radiant Future” which Joshua Muravchik speaks of in his book of that name; the nebulous promise of a Utopia “down the road” which socialists of all stripes are always eager to sacrifice the past and present to achieve. Not to mention lots and lots of people, by any means necessary, as per Bonaparte’s axiom about eggs and omelettes; they always seem especially eager to break all those eggs, much like a bratty two-year-old let loose in the dairy department at the grocery.
As for The One’s belief in “exceptionalism”, American or otherwise, his choices of comparison are telling. Other that America, Great Britain and Greece bear substantial responsibility for the existence of our present civilization.
Greece was where the concept of the Enlightenment began (i.e., the rejection of mysticism in favor of observable reality); they fought a rather nasty war with Persia to make the point. (Read Victor Davis Hanson, or just rent the movie “300″, which is actually a handy Cliff’s Notes on the events and the reason for them.)
Great Britain, through its Empire and being the “engine” of the Industrial Revolution, probably did more to bring Europe and the rest of the world out of the Dark Ages than even Italy and France, whose contributions on the philosophical and artistic side are no small thing in themselves.
America took the start Greece and Great Britain gave it, and “ran with it”, to the point that within two centuries after independence it had outstripped its mother country on almost every count, and still managed to maintain generally cordial relations, in spite of contretemps’ such as the War of 1812 and the American Civil War (in which Britain generally supported the Confederacy on purely economic grounds)- no hard feelings in the long run on either count.
Greece, Great Britain, and the United States are “exceptional”, indeed; it could be argued that without those nation-states, and the philosophies they espoused and the ways in which they made concrete realities of those philosophies, the “modern world” as we know it would not exist.
And therein, I suspect, lies the problem, from The One’s point of view.
He comes from a segment of our society which views our civilization as practically evil incarnate. They hate our mores, our technology, our insistence on “facts” over “feelings”, in short, virtually everything which has set Western culture apart since Xerxes (well, his brother Mardonius, at least)lost to the Greeks at Plataea in 479 B.C.
His section of the “enlightened, intellectual elite’” prefers the indeterminacy of mysticism. They think the world is a much better place if nothing is “really” real, and nobody has a definite fact to go by. They also think it’s much better if there are no machines, if we all worship the earth, and if there are far fewer of us, with the “truly sensitive ones” such as themselves in charge. (And no backtalk from the peasants.)
I find it amusing that they speak of themselves as “enlightened” and “reality-based”, while behaving more like the Persians who demanded tributes of earth and water, and the rejection of fact in favor of supplication to a god-king and his philosopher-priests. This is yet one more example of the way that those Ayn Rand would call the “mystics of muscle” feel free to redefine words to suit themselves, in the belief that in doing so, they are altering reality- because “wishing makes it so”.
(Anyone who believes The One doesn’t do this should listen to him talk about the “jobs saved or created by the stimulus” sometime.)
In short, the only thing The One really feels is “exceptional” about us is the evil we have done, or are capable of. And which He has come to “set right”.
No matter how many eggs he has to break to make that particular omelette. He believes that the result will be savory enough to make it worthwhile.
And besides- breaking all those eggs promises to be fun. From his point of view.
clear ether
eon
If Foxcuckooland keeps on gettin’ exceptionaler an’ exceptionaler at the present rate, Dr. Bones, why, communication with the ordinary human race may be broken off altogether.
Health days.
He bows to foreigners. ‘Nuff said
What defines American exceptionalism is its limitations on the power of government. The particular experience of of Founding Fathers was with the imposition of power on people who were not considered or consulted about their needs or wishes. That experience constitutes the basis for the current fight. In negating government limitation of its own power, we negate the basis of American exceptionalism. To this I wish to add that top-down imposition of solutions don’t work well. This is known by historical example. Without regular cleansing through elections, nations fail as often as corporations.
“President Obama means well”. Sure. Jihadists mean well too. The eugenicists meant well. Marxists mean well.
And the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Our blight of a president paves and paves the road to hell, all the while claiming he is paving the road to heaven. Obama is a malignant tumor on America. But at least he means well…
Rick, I simply don’t know how you can claim his heart is in the right place. If you sit back and look at all the pieces and put them together to form a picture, I just don’t see it as you do.
- What critics of these grassroots expressions of outrage fail to see is that the president’s broad attack on tradition is more than just a desire to address problems with the economy or health insurance. What the president seeks is nothing less than a basic alteration in the American experiment, a radical change in the way the American citizen relates to the federal government. It seems to have come as a surprise to our president and many of his supporters that there would be such fierce opposition to this idea. Why this is so defines the president’s idea of “exceptionalism” and his stated desire to redefine American identity.
Gaaaack! In what galaxy is this considered journalism???
There is no “failure” involved here. Critics of this outrage willfully refuse to acknowledge that it’s a grassroots expression at all!!
Jeebus, that entire passage reeks of such cynical, smarmy longing for naivete that it wasn’t possible – or likely necessary – to read further. As always.
And as always, Mr. Porretto identifies the heart and soul of the problem in two clear, focused sentences, while Moran requires almost two thousand words to tiptoe blindfolded around the elephant in the room, terrified that he might catch sight of it.
The danger BHO represents to this nation has absolutely nothing to do with his notion of “exceptionalism”.
BHO epitomizes the very essence of end-justifies-the-means “progressivism”. He has a terminal lack of respect for this nation, its history, its laws and its people because both the significance of the U.S.A. and the relationship of that significance to her Constitutionally-limited, Republican Form of Government escape him completely.
To BHO and his like-minded idolaters, America is nothing but a broken object, handed to him to be “fixed”; and his entire “career” is a litany self-service, culminating in the narcissist conviction that only his special brand of hip, new, liberal fascism can do the “fixing”. Like all leftist ideologues, he is willfully blind to the fact his socially suicidal agenda is not “new”, nor is it untested; rather, it’s precisely what corrupted this nation in the first place.
(look at comment #9 if you think otherwise. Is it REALLY possible to have a dialogue with that individual, leading to a compromise both sides can live with? Please. I can’t even read that comment without wanting to bash in the face of the person who wrote it.
A sentiment with which, by the way, I’m sure Nietzsche would agree. The very idea of Leftists trying to co-opt Nietzsche into any aspect of their message is absurd. Anyone with any familiarity of Nietzsche’s writing on the topic of the future of European society under socialism would know that Nietzsche argued that the modern-day Left were the inheritors of the very “slave morality” he saw as the font of Western decadence.
This is simply a case of misunderstanding. In Obama’s brain, “exceptionalism” simply means he should “take exception to” everything this country stands for.
Which pretty much encapsulates the liberal Big Rock Candy Mountain agenda…
But the president wants to alter that equation. To achieve his ideal America, he is willing to create a government that will, in effect, inform the people what they are allowed and what they will be prevented from doing.
Yes, but…Rick. To achieve HIS “ideal”, is not the point. It’s not HIS to achieve. It’s ours. We are not made in his image. We are not serfs in his kingdom. We are not lackeys at his disposal. And we are certainly not ATM’s for his debit card.
President Obama means well. This much we can glean from his insistence that, even at the risk of disastrous political defeat at the polls in November for his party, he is willing to undertake this imprudent, radical, and unnecessary change in the relationship between the governed and the governors.
He may mean well, Rick. I think there are a number of revolutionary “heroes” who “meant well” as they built totalitarian states. Marx and Lenin probably meant well. Mao meant well. Che meant well.
Pick a leftist revolutionary and you will get a leftist defense of “intent”.
Il Duce meant well. I am recommending this article that I read at Ed Driscoll’s page recently.
http://www.sodahead.com/united-states/economic-fascism/blog-175771/
The point being, Rick, that it’s really not up to him to “make this change” against our will. He seems to believe that he can ramrod it down our throats and convince us it was in our best interest after the fact.
That level of arrogance is beyond the pale. The leftists who follow him as disciples without principles, also maintain an arrogance that is despicable and unearned. They believe that it will be nearly impossible to “undo” the damage, whether the “convincing” works or not.
These charlatans have sold out the American dream, and replaced it with a used Russian one. And they used our kids money for the pawn ticket.
They are out of line. They have crossed the line. It is NOT their system to “change”, it’s ours. We say when. We say how. Despite their echo chamber arrogance, WE get to say how we self-govern this land of ours.
We dream of a better world for our children as well. We just aren’t going to steal from them to get there.
President Barack Obama’s refusal to wear a pin with the flag of the United States shows how antiAmerican he is.
Moran, do you get paid to write this crap? Or do you write this knowing you will elicit anger and negativity towards what you write.
I hope your regular job does not entail that you engage your mind or think critically–like say a garbage man as opposed to a neurosurgeon.
Wow! Where to start – how about this; something is really really off when Peter Beinart and the word brilliant wind up in the same sentence. What’s next – Lester Thurow should get plucked off the set of ‘that 70′s show’ to replace Geithner? Obama invites Carter to the WH to recommend crucial Cabinet shuffle?
What really fires my Irish is that this comes from Rick Moran; ‘PJM Chicago editor’…. talk about toxic kalbosi.
I’d much rather hear a bit of recent history on the O Rick, since you hail from near Hyde Park. Like a bit of background on how the Big O chose to run against Bobby Rush, way back in what, the 1990′s? How did Obama handle that thus far SINGLE political loss? And what/who was his biggest influence during his tenure in the Ill legislature – after failing to make it to congress? Or why was it that he had such a short and undistinguished stop at Chicago U teaching – yet – is practically hailed in the MSM as enough of a constitutional expert on constitutional law & thus qualified to lecture the captive Supremes during a State of the Union Address… or….
In short, what would be exceptional is if we actually got a bit of post election vetting on the most left leaning sitting Prez in the history of the republic. Esspecially from a Chicagoan.
I’m way past caring about the birther nonsense – but I will settle for starters a remidial examination of his college transcripts and any published articles (the first lady included)…like Bush (And every Prez before him) had to deal with.
When Truman was in office, the last Prez without a College Education, he was particularly savaged for being a rube as a result. In contrast, part of Obama’s ‘still polling popular’ optics as the affiable intellectual – is the conventional wisdom that he’s one of – if not THE – most intellegent men to ever occupy the office.
Well, to borrow from the Ray Charles story – ‘scratch a liar find a thief’.
This veneer has never been investigated let alone proven. What, besides politics and writing a book, did this guy ever do? I believe he’s a fraud. I’d like to hear from journalists who suspect as much. I believe millions more would too.
Think of it this way Rick Moran. Glenn Beck made almost 30 million and he did it with a half dozen researchers and a chaulk board. Isn’t that incentive enough?
So, it’s fine that Rich Lowery weighed in on one principle reason this administration is particularly disturbing – since a foundational cultural defination remains miles apart between those who support Obama and the rest of us.
But now that he has presented his adgenda conservatives should limit any pretentious discussion of American Exceptionalism to the relentless pursuit of discovery on everything this man has encountered since on a steady diet of Gerber Baby Food in Hawaii.
I just hope someone ELSE in the Chicago Area, with the ability to do opposition research, or at least pockets deep enough to hire a Chicago U grad ass looking to pay their rent, help do it for them. Because it sure doesn’t look like Rick Moran wants to.
Instead, I’m afraid I see this article as just the latest exhibit A in how dangerous ‘bipartisan efforts’ are when Progressives are running the federal government.
Obama means to be a Good Shepherd.
Exceptional Americans are ‘A Pack, not a Herd’
Legendary Fail
Truth in advertising would have relabeled the Democratic Party the Social Democratic Party in the 1990′s. The new banner is the Democratic Socialist Utopian Party with a twist of Chicago brassknuckles, union marxist, return to the third world. Now there is a change that makes exceptionalism smoke.
Wait, he’s taking his children to Indonesia so they can see what this country will look like when they grow up. Police and military on every corner: military patrolling the hotels: poverty everywhere: violence by rebel groups running most of the smaller towns and countryside: a hotel bombing every few weeks: few motor vehicles and lots of bikes and Diahatsu putt-putts.
Look girls, I left this to come to America and practice my exceptionalism!
Racism, greed and violence are the pillars of American exceptionalism. America denies its people the basic human right of food, housing, and health care while at the same times allows people to have right to own devices of death. The carnage on our streets results from the desperately poor who live in a society where all the wealth is controlled by greedy billionaires unwilling to share even crumbs with them have no choice but to use gun violence to get what they need.
Well, they almost have no choice. They can join the military and engage in genocidal slaughter of even poorer dark-skinned third-worlders so the aforementioned billionaires can control the natural resources of their lands.
the people tolerate this state of affairs because the White majority is willing to endure oppressive hardship because they can not bear the thought of People of Color being cared for. America’s calloused and stupid Whites are willing to forgo the rights of food, clothing, housing, education, and jobs because they want to deny similar rights to People of Color.
This is a good article to explain the difference between liberals and conservatives. I think one point that is not used is that liberals like Obama seem to hate the county and its history. Mr. Moran says they have a different view of right and wrong and we should understand this difference. But if the outcome of his thougth process is to hate us and our laws, then I think this will drive to extremes. This is shown in the health care bill which they are forcing this on the country no matter the impact on his country. They are doing everything to flood us with radical change. This is not a simply another view point on law,history, or culture. He will attack us with his views and drive us into submission. We have to attack back or we will lose our freedom. This will not stop until he is stopped. He is angry and intolerent in his views. He will use every ability to write regulations, to create laws, to take over the judiciary, and any other ability he has to force his angry viewpoint. It is based on lies that have been proven throughout history (like socialism) and unless we fight with anger we may lose.
“I’m way past caring about the birther nonsense – but I will settle for starters a remidial examination of his college transcripts and any published articles (the first lady included)…like Bush (And every Prez before him) had to deal with.”
By now most likely airbrushed but none the less mediocre would be my guess. Where is he intellectual ? He strikes me as extremely canny and shrewd however. Other than the elusive transcripts,it just might be there is nothing there to investigate and thus report on-just a blank slate.
“This veneer has never been investigated…”
I don’t know, maybe it has and there was nothing worth noting?
“..let alone proven. What, besides politics and writing a book, did this guy ever do?”
Attend classes, play some basketball,find the most radical elements on campus to hang out with, get married and have children, ingratiate himself with local Chicago politicians, walk around talking to people in neighbourhoods, give speeches, state senate ?
From that to the presidency-an enormous feat of accomplishment.
@24. Apostle of Love: – America’s calloused and stupid Whites are willing to forgo the rights of food, clothing, housing, education, and jobs because they want to deny similar rights to People of Color.
Great parody!
But remember, if it weren’t for Oprah, BHO, MO, Holder, Denzel, Condi Rice, Justice Thomas, Maxine Waters, Bill Clinton, Danny Glover, Ursula Burns, Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, J.C. Watts, Alan Keyes, Alicia Keyes, Jesse Jackson, Alberto Gonzales, Harold Ford, Jr., Bill Cosby, Gwen Moore, Keith Ellison, Marcia Fudge, Sonia Sotomayor, Artur Davis, Chaka Fattah, Mia Love, Sanford Bishop, Cynthia McKinney and Janet fracking Jackson, it wouldn’t work as a parody at all.
.
@25. bruce caldwell: – … liberals like Obama seem to hate the county and its history. Mr. Moran says they have a different view of right and wrong and we should understand this difference.
Moranic moral relativism in its purest form.
Well, one good thing about registration is that you don’t need to put up your user name and e-mail addy each time.
24. Apostle of Love:
Thank you for encapsulating the Progressive world view so succinctly. While it’s possible you are engaging in parody…it seems like at some level you’re not. But either way, thank you.
Now, everyone else, understand that this is what Progressives think about you and your country. They do not love it, and feel no obligation towards it, in fact they despise it and will do so until it conforms to their vision. It’s also a perfect illustration of why their Messiah is Barack Obama.
Of course, my initial comment was censored.
Good luck. Maybe when the moderators are ready to face reality, something good will happen. Until then, BOHICA.
“President Obama means well” evokes a remark one might charitably make regarding the misdeeds of a confused youngster, hoping that he will eventually untangle his own world view, and learn to respect the external realities instead of projecting his self-image into the world.
But should we not expect the POTUS to be a mature man, responsible for what he does? His failure to understand what America really is does not excuse his obsession with turning it into something else, where the exceptionality would be more in its theoretical potential than its actual accomplishments. Remember, lacking the capacity for gratitude is a symptom of immaturity: It’s never good enough for those who have not found their way.
People with a stratospheric self-image attend MENSA meetings and congratulate each other for their great potential. But if they actually had identified a worthy life pursuit for themselves, and were diligently working on it, would they have any time left to join meetings of a society of narcissists? The same applies to our grandiloquent oracles of the left. If they had found a productive application for their energy, would they dwell in utopian speculations, and propose the destruction of the existing order as a prerequisite to their provincial vision of paradise on earth?
I wonder if all these brave efforts at rationalizing the disastrous initiatives of this president are in fact reflecting a collective refusal to recognize that we somehow managed to elect and immature and incompetent candidate. The president is supposed to be a reflection of the electorate, and perhaps he is, more than we dare acknowledge. We need some serious detox, and learn to choose our leaders more carefully the next time around, instead of getting caught up in the hysteria of a collective discovery of the perfect redemptor candidate.
@30. venividivici: – Of course, my initial comment was censored.
Is it still showing on your browser as waiting for moderation, vvv?
Because if it isn’t, I wouldn’t be too quick to blame the mods. The comment management code on this site is the absolute WORST I have seen on any site I visit. Part of the reason for this APPEARS to be the fact that the comment form has been re-written from the original WordPress PHP (on this page it’s inserted by JavaScript using a separate PHP that generates the form on-the-fly, which creates all kinds of browser cacheing problems). Either way, the code on this site routinely sends comments off into the ether with no rhyme or reason. Mine have experienced this numerous times and I’ve re-posted essentially the same sentiments and had them published.
I’ve emailed ‘story@pajamasmedia.com’ on this problem multiple times and gotten no response. If you think it’s bad here, try routinely commenting on the various PJM blogs.
While I’d argue that there is not one among the great nations of past or present that does not believe their national character, culture, history or something sets them apart from other nations I would not dispute America’s claim.
Try to think beyond America though. The real enemy is the globalisation movement which is supranational and neither of left or right but of authoritarianism.
You say that Obama is trying to change the fundamental core of America. For 13 years centre-left Labour governments and before that 18 years of Conservative goverments have tried to destroy the British culture, community and character by promoting multiculturalism and “diversity” and attacking British trditions and institutions. The same has happened in France, Germany and Sweden.
The underlying political philosophy is divide and rule, the dictm of Julius Ceasar.
I must point out that neither food, nor shelter, nor clothes, nor clean water, nor medicine is a human right. Rather, they are goods and services; they are things you earn, or else are given to you as a gift. Charity is an act of love, not something you have a right to; it is mercy, not an entitlement.
32
goy, you may be right that the comment vanished. If not, it was probably too pessimistic for the “can’t we all get along?” and the “eventually the Left will listen to reason” crowd Moran caters to. I’m sorry, but the more I see how the Left is willing to advance their health care agenda despite the will of the majority (no, this is not an issue of minority rights vs. the majority because there I can see legitimate reasons to go against the majority), I can only conclude that, on a global basis, the Left in the US is NOT exceptional relative to the Left in the former Soviet Union, East Germany, Mao’s China, Vietnam, etc., etc. We have our own “home grown” Cultural Revolutionaries, active in American politics today. Did the people who opposed the Cultural Revolution get anywhere with mere debate and reason? No, they fled to Taiwan and elsewhere when possible and let the revolution play itself out. Anyway, that analogy might get me censored again, but basically I think America needs an “inner Taiwan” to which people who want to escape the absolute disastrous policies the Left is proposing can go and be out of the reaches of their ever-increasing debt burden on those of who are being fleeced to pay for it all.
Moran and others who want to pretend that the American Left is somehow LESS deadly than those other Lefts are going to be hit with some bad news over the coming years and decades. Bill Ayers didn’t write “Prairie Fire” for nothing, after all.
“President Obama means well. This much we can glean from his insistence that, even at the risk of disastrous political defeat at the polls in November for his party, he is willing to undertake this imprudent, radical, and unnecessary change in the relationship between the governed and the governors.”
There is no way Barry “means well”. Barry means to destroy this nation as the Constitutionally based nation it has been since its’ founding. Not only that, he wants to ensure that those who come after him find it nearly impossible to recover by bankrupting anything he can. Barry is, in all but name, a Muslim jihadist who intends to destroy “the Great Satan” by using the corrupt socialist democrat lust for power as his weapon. There’s a reason he thinks that the Constitution isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on and that reason is his personal belief that only Allah can dictate the way men live, not men banding together and founding a free nation.
Barry will crack soon enough, maybe already has, but the thought that he and his democrat thugs are doing anything based on good intentions is absolutely absurd. That’s the sort of thing we’ll be hearing soon enough from the same media that covered for him and helped elect him. “Poor Barry, he had such good intentions”, “Isn’t it awful about Barry, he meant well”. Are you trying to be a weather vane and see whether or not people are willing to grant Barry and his thugs a reprieve because they had good intentions or just so brainwashed by decades of democrat propaganda that you wrote that without thinking?
Regards
#35: venividivici
Great observations, v’.
When I finally understood the psychological underpinnings of what motivates the leftern mindset I found that I could no longer tolerate the saccharine, faux naivete of the hanky-clutching, credulous finger-waggers who insist that compromise is a mandatory requirement for a sustainable society, and that concerns about argumentum ad temperantiam consequences are just “fear-mongering”. That was around the time RightWingNuthouse disappeared from my blogroll.
Based on his actions to date, it’s clear that BHO wants his legacy – and he apparently sees his as a global legacy, not an American one – to include having pounded home the linchpin of Socialism – socialized medicine – in the one place where no one believed it would ever be possible to do so: capitalist, republican, individualist, conservative, Christian, exceptional America. That’s why he and those who share his historically discredited delusion are willing to sacrifice everything right now.
Leftists in government have spent fifty years manipulating the health care market in America to this end. They have succeeded in manufacturing a health care economy where fewer people each year can afford care without “spreading the cost around”. They have succeeded in completely destroying the public’s ability to discern between health care and “coverage”. They have succeeded in cementing in the minds of Americans the notion that health care is not only a “right”, but an entitlement. This is their time.
Ironically, the closer the left comes to success – should they fail – the less likely it is they will ever get another chance. As we saw in the ’90s, the closer socialized medicine gets to becoming a reality, the more tangible and obvious its economy- and liberty-destroying character becomes. Just like AGW, the trick to getting this plan passed is to demonize those who realize this while ramming through associated legislation before the majority catches on. This is why they’re sprinting, and not because of any sudden “fierce, moral urgency”.
But unlike the ’90s, the economy is devastated, and shrinking, not recovered and growing. Americans are looking for people and policies to blame and right now BHO and Democrat fiscal policies are looking pretty awful. In fact I contend that had we not ceded the rhetorical field, and insisted on calling this turkey by its proper name – socialized medicine – from the start, that it would have been dead by last August. Either way, this was a particularly inopportune time for the left to underplay their hand, looking for political, “bipartisan” cover rather than simply passing a bill when they had the votes. They lost valuable time.
Now the People are onto their game, and the left has no alternative but to ignore the majority. No, it’s beyond that. They are openly pretending, in fact, that the majority doesn’t even exist: “the Tea Party is funded by the GOP and led by FNC”, “Scott Brown was swept into office for the same reasons I was”, “good polls means you’re not doing anything”, etc. It’d be funny if it weren’t so pathetic and the consequences not so massively significant.
“Inner Taiwan”… Texas? Alaska? If things get worse instead of better it’s not hard to imagine a scenario where one or both of these considers secession. Stranger things have happened.
BTW, just one data point: I’ve been brutally critical of some of the writing here at PJM (especially Moran’s thin gruel) and to date I haven’t had a post moderated away. Even on Rosenbaum’s fatuous ‘blog’.
Seeing our basic law as an impediment to an ideal America shows the president to be wedded to an exceptionalism that is outside the traditional definition, but connected to the idea of America being “different” because of our history and values.
You’re cutting the guy way too much slack with this convoluted thesis.
Our “basic law” exists, in large part, to constrain the type and size of federal government Barack Obama would engender.
It’s obvious in so many ways, too numerous and too obvious to list. The writers of our Constitution, with a long and deep knowledge of abuses of power in Europe, were hellbent on creating a document, an organizational framework and structure of government, that would make Barack Obama’s vision for America impossible.
Obama’s frustrated that those pesky other branches still exist (“healthcare my way would have already happened”) and that any remaining constraints on the power of the Executive get in his way.
His mission isn’t exceptionalism in any manner, shape or form. It is cutting America down to size. His utterings on sundry Apology Tours of last year (not to mention his utterings in general) should make that crystal clear.
This is pretty funny, for anybody in need of some comic relief.
Which should be just about everybody.
Obamafeld
Yo, #23 clear mind,
Maybe Duh O shouldn’t be so eager to “head home.” Look at this… maybe he’ll think twice -
“LITTLE OBAMA” sent back to school, compared to El Che
What do Barack and Saddam have in common (other than the Hussein thing, oh, and that Islam thing too)? Both have been leaders of countries, their ratings have been in the basement, and now this – statues laid low. Just as madman Saddam’s statue was brought down after the US military’s 2003 defeat of Saddam’s minions in Iraq, Obama’s statue in a faraway land has suffered the same ignominy. Only in Little Bronzed Barry’s case he’s been sent back to, of all things, elementary school. Maybe “Hussein” isn’t such a good name.
Here’s the deal. Last year a bronze statue of Obama at 10 years of age was installed in the public Menteng Park in Jakarta, Indonesia, to honor his… well, presence, short time though it was, in that country eons ago. The specific claim is that the statue was a tribute to a would-be future president of the United States who attended the equivalent of an elementary school and lived in Indonesia from ages 6 to 10. The statue’s honorific official title is “Little Obama.” This is in spite of the fact that it was little Muslim Barry Soetoro that lived there during the time of his life that is honored in bronze.
The reasoning for such an honoring of a non-native, youthful foreign sojourner who no longer resides in-country is as unique as the honor itself. Said historian JJ Rizal -
** Obama’s rise to the White House was really moving. (His rise) is not only the reflection of American democracy, but he’s become a pop culture icon like Che Guevara **
Uh-huh, sure. That’s an insult to Ernesto Che Guevara. Humberto Fontova, no stranger to Che’s “revolution,” might conclude that President Duh O is more like a poor man’s Che, minus the motorcycle… and charisma. However, Little Barry does have t-shirts, just like El Comandante. The Indonesians certainly have a bizarro world concept of “hero worship.” I can just see the crowd humming “Barack Obama, he’s mm-mm-mm-good” at the statue’s dedication.
That was then, this is now – time passes, popularity polls bring Mondale/Ferraro to mind, fidelity vanishes, allies break rank, and like the Thrilla’ in Manila – “Down goes Frasier! Down goes Frasier!” – the statue is dropped. Unlike Joe Frasier though, Little Obama is not out. He’s been relocated to Besuki Primary School where Little Barry, like about everything else in his life, supposedly attended, or so it’s reported. From national prominence to one level above kindergarten – this is like going from title contender to the undercard or exhibitions.
Looking at a picture of a statue which was created from a picture might make the resemblance a little sketchy (it can be found at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35517807/displaymode/1176/rstry/35516795/). The statue cost $10,000 originally. After the relocation the final tab was $50,000. Yep, that’s a statue of Little Obama alright.
Nothing quite as uplifting as being hoisted on your own petard, is there Little Barry? So, what was the impetus for this down-with-Barry U-haul movement? A key factor was a Facebook campaign led by Heru Nugroho to ‘Take Down the Barack Obama Statue in Menteng Park.’ The site also fueled a law suit of similar intent. It all worked. Here’s what Mr. Nugroho had to say about Obama –
** Personally I admire him, he has been elected as a President of America but it doesn’t make me feel that his statue deserves to be displayed in the park. What has Obama got to do with Indonesia, even though the world knows he is the President of America, what is his contribution to this country? **
My sentiments exactly save for the “admiration” part. I am OK with all this but I have a question – are these the same folk who prayed Obama into office just two years ago? Et tu, Heru?
Conservatives and sensible Americans should take note. Maybe with a little tweaking they could employ Mr. Nugroho’s observation as a basis for their own Faceplant campaign in America to effect a similar process of “relocating” our Little Barry just a year after his installation –
** Personally we think about him, he has been elected as a President of America but it doesn’t make us feel that his portrait deserves to be displayed in the White House. What has Obama got to do with the Constitution, even though the world knows he is the President of America, what is his contribution to this country? **
Obama wanted to bring the world down – rather, the world brings down Obama. So, how does it feel, Barry? A bit crowded under that bus, isn’t it?
I guess I’m going to say this again. America is exceptional Because it is the only country in the world that was founded upon ideas. These ideas are written in the Constitution. All Americans have a common belief in those core ideas and that belief makes them Americans. Anyone, even martians, may become an American citizen as long as they also hold that small core set of commonly held beliefs.
That exceptionalism doesn’t automatically make America the most free, or most kind, or smartest, or most enlightened country in the world; or even the best place to live. It does mean that American exceptionalism allows America and its people to do things that other countries can’t even imagine.
Who knows what Mr Obama thinks about America? I’m guessing he wouldn’t agree with what I just said. Who knows? He never says anything with clarity and he changes what he says more often than a traffic light changes colour.
For a guy who runs a blog called “Right Wing Nut House,” Moran never struck me as very conservative. He seems to spend much of his time nowadays disagreeing with other conservatives, like in this piece where he criticizes the NRO authors.
Then there’s this: “What informs President Obama’s love of America is the promise of what America can be, not what she is today. Similarly, his idea of exceptionalism is animated by the belief that we can be so much more than what we are”
No, no, no. Obama doesn’t even like America period. He doesn’t have a different view of America, he’s post-American. Like his fellow progressives he wants to hand over much of our sovereignty to international institutions.
“President Obama means well.”
I disagree. He doesn’t care about stimulating the economy, but in income redistribution. He doesn’t care about improving healthcare for everyone, but in making sure that the government controls it. On and on. As I said, he’s post-American.
For blacks to rise up and rip any and everything that Caucasians and Jews own out of their hands and give it to the black race.