American Exceptionalism? Not For The American President

This speaks volumes about our President (emphasis mine):

Jamie Kirchick writes in the Los Angeles Times:

At a stop on his grand global apology tour this spring, President Obama was asked by a reporter in France if he believed in "American exceptionalism." This is the notion that our history as the world's oldest democracy, our immigrant founding and our devotion to liberty endow the United States with a unique, providential role in world affairs.

Rather than endorse the proposition -- as every president in recent memory has done one way or another -- Obama offered a strange response: "I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism."

This is impossible. If all countries are "exceptional," then none are, and to claim otherwise robs the word, and the idea of American exceptionalism, of any meaning. Besides, American exceptionalism is demonstrable -- Cuban journalists, Chinese political dissidents, Eastern Europeans once again living in the shadow of a belligerent Russia and, yes, even some Brits and Greeks look toward the U.S. and nowhere else to defend freedom.

Kirchick says that Obama's endless apologies on behalf of the American people, their government, and their history are "paving the way for America's decline," but we need to remember that our President is a citizen of the world -- and a post-American world at that. The only thing genuinely exceptional about this country was our willingness to elect Barack Obama, our decision to choose change and hope over fear. For some people, that was the first time they were really proud of their country.

It really is a shame that our very own leader has such a dim view of our country.  Personally, I believe whole-heartedly in American exceptionalism.  While it's obvious there are flaws that need to be fixed, America is still the #1 place in the world to live.  If it weren't, why would millions from around the globe constantly be trying to come here?  It is American exceptionalism, as laid out by our Founding Fathers in the Constitution, that has opened the pathway to freedom, prosperity, strength, and global leadership for over 200 years, and the lifestyle each one of us enjoys today.

Recall this post from last October:

I once posted a blog denying Obama's patriotism.  As I've watched and studied him over these past months, I've become convinced that he not only has zero patriotism, but that he actually holds the exact opposite principles close to his heart.  He isn't just unpatriotic, but he is wholly, completely, and totally disgusted with America.  His holy mission is to change it, to fix it, to re-make it in his own vision of what it should be.  That vision is very clear: racial divisions and black superiority, economic redistribution on the subjective basis of fairness, oppressive taxation on success and wealth (except his own), and forceful suppression of any dissenting viewpoint.

This is not the kind of change that helps America.  It's the kind of change that will destroy it. 

Ah, last October...those were the good ol' days, weren't they?  We had a President who was willing to protect America even if it wasn't popular, we'd seen several years of economic growth, and a healthy two-party debate on many important issues.  What we've seen over the past three months -- all of the international apology tours, the punitive attacks on free enterprise and capitalism, the government takeovers of private companies, the stifling of dissenting viewpoints, the disarming of America, and so on -- is the fruit of Obama's core philosophy.  It's the direct result of Obama's anti-Americanism, which is founded in his complete lack of belief in American exceptionalism.

Sometimes it sucks being right.

Don't get me wrong - I was hardly a trailblazer in writing those words above, just reaching the conclusion to which logic and evidence pointed.  Many other people smarter than me got there long before I did.  Indeed, none of this is surprising to people who have been paying attention to Obama's record and history.  But, a whole lot of Americans are now seeing Obama's true colors for the first time, and they're not liking what they see.  If you've been on this train all along, you know exactly what I'm talking about.  If you're one of those who has come to the party late, we're still glad to have you - welcome aboard!  The crowd is growing steadily with each new political abuse by the Obama administration.

It saddens me to contemplate telling my children and grandchildren about the 'good old days' when we were free and life was better, but if Emperor Obama gets his way, I suspect that's where we're headed.  I would love nothing more than to see a whole new crop of elected leaders spring up in 2010, men and women of character and conviction who still hold that flame of belief in the exceptional nature of America.  That would be welcome change, and provide the world with new and real hope.

There's my two cents.