Obama's Nuanced Explanation of "American Exceptionalism"



How do you think he did?

Now here's a challenge: Imagine George W. Bush's response to the same question? Or McCain's? Or, better yet, Sarah Palin's?!

Comments

WJS said…
Does a pleasant job of conflating "exceptional" with "excepted."
BJK said…
how so? i sort of thought he did a decent (though not very thorough) job of disentangling the two?

can you elaborate?
WJS said…
I'm satisfied and proud of his answer. The "not very thorough" part is where I substituted the word "pleasant."

Still, didn't refute the jingoism of the past several years or the failure of America to adopt certain international policies like the Kyoto protocol but glossed over them. I think that this is what many people think of when the term American Exceptionalism is mentioned rather than the textbook definition. But that's probably my ignorance or bias or something. Great impromptu answer overall.

But what do you expect? He's the Prez! Of course he's going to believe in American Exceptionalism =? Patriotism, as he should.

The other three would just have had shoes thrown at them.

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