American Exceptionalism

Is America "exceptional"? All countries are different, but does America differ from all of them, in a fundamental way? Does it have a special purpose or destiny in the world? That's becoming the battle cry of the Republican Party in its bid to unseat President Obama in 2012. Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Mike Huckabee and other GOP presidential hopefuls have all declared Obama insufficiently attuned to American exceptionalism. America is exceptional, they say, except our own president doesn't appreciate it. "His worldview is dramatically different from any president, Republican or Democrat, we've had," charged Huckabee.

This year's presidential campaign has had its share of arguments over issues long thought settled - contraception, for one. But another wrangle between Republicans and President Obama dates far earlier than that 1960s throwback and centers on the very origins of the nation. Republicans have argued that the president fails to understand that the country was divinely inspired, based on the Declaration of Independence's assertion that citizens were “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.” The "American exceptionalism" argument, as it is known, is meant to curry favor with tea party adherents who revere the founding documents, inspire a religiously tinged sense of optimism and -- not least -- portray the president as out of the American mainstream.

President Obama used a Rose Garden news conference with the president of Mexico and prime minister of Canada to reject the political argument of his likely Republican opponent that he's insufficiently committed to the notion of American exceptionalism. GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney, in a speech to conservatives in a suburb of Wisconsin on Saturday, continued a line of attack that has been made by other Republicans during the primary battle, saying Obama "doesn't have the same feelings about American exceptionalism that we do. " "And I think over the last three or four years, some people around the world have begun to question that," the former Massachusetts governor said, according to the Washington Post.

President Obama used a Rose Garden news conference with the president of Mexico and prime minister of Canada to reject the political argument of his likely Republican opponent that he's insufficiently committed to the notion of American exceptionalism. GOP front-runner Mitt Romney, in a speech to conservatives in a suburb of Wisconsin on Saturday, continued a line of attack that has been made by other Republicans during the primary battle, saying Obama "doesn't have the same feelings about American exceptionalism that we do. " "And I think over the last three or four years, some people around the world have begun to question that," the former Massachusetts governor said, according to the Washington Post.

Last year, when asked if he believed in American exceptionalism, President Obama responded, "I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism. " This reminded me of the wonderful scene in Pixar's "The Incredibles," in which the mom says "everyone's special" and her son replies, "Which is another way of saying no one is. " But at least the president made room for the sentiment that America is a special place, even if he chalked it up to a kind of benign provincialism.

Unclear on U.S. exceptionalism Re "America, the one and only," Opinion, Nov. 9 Like Jonah Goldberg and President Obama, I think the United States is a great country. It was great before we abolished slavery; it was greater afterward. What did conservatives think of that? It was great before women had the right to vote; it was greater afterward. What did conservatives think of that? It was great before workers had the right to join unions; it was greater afterward.

Suggestion box? Re "Brown wants speedy budget deal," Dec. 15 "Depressing" is the word that comes to mind while reading all this doom and gloom about cuts here, there and everywhere. But I'm confident that if anyone can turn our Golden State around, it's the no-nonsense, think-outside-the-box incoming governor, Jerry Brown. Why don't we all think outside the box and send suggestions to our governor-elect? Let's help him help us; we are all in this together. My suggestion would be to sell thousands of state-owned properties.

United we stood Re "When unity was all-American," Column, Dec. 5 On a beautiful Sunday morning, I was listening to a football game with several other men when suddenly a special announcement interrupted the broadcast: "Pearl Harbor has been bombed. " We looked at each other and said, "Where's Pearl Harbor?" It didn't take us long to find out. In less than two months, we had all enlisted in the United States armed forces. Franklin D. Roosevelt said we'd never forget that day. Seventy years later, I remember it well.

A Tolerable Anarchy Rebels, Reactionaries, and the Making of America's Freedom Jedediah Purdy Alfred A. Knopf: 294 pp., $23.95 -- The Myth of American Exceptionalism Godfrey Hodgson Yale University Press: 222 pp., $26 -- In his 2003 book "Being America," Jedediah Purdy remarked that at "the same time we disclaim imperial aspirations, we Americans suspect that we are the world's universal nation."

This year's presidential campaign has had its share of arguments over issues long thought settled - contraception, for one. But another wrangle between Republicans and President Obama dates far earlier than that 1960s throwback and centers on the very origins of the nation. Republicans have argued that the president fails to understand that the country was divinely inspired, based on the Declaration of Independence's assertion that citizens were “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.” The "American exceptionalism" argument, as it is known, is meant to curry favor with tea party adherents who revere the founding documents, inspire a religiously tinged sense of optimism and -- not least -- portray the president as out of the American mainstream.

Newt Gingrich surged to victory in the South Carolina presidential primary, batting back questions about his personal life and riding a pair of strong debate performances to overtake Mitt Romney and slow his seeming march to the GOP nomination. Romney finished more than 10 percentage points behind the former House speaker Saturday, with Rick Santorum and Ron Paul a distant third and fourth, respectively. Gingrich, flashing just an occasional smile, marked his victory with a sober address to supporters in Columbia, praising each of his opponents and returning to a favorite tack -- bashing the media and "the elites in Washington and New York [who]

A buoyant Newt Gingrich struck a populist tone while claiming a double-digit, come-from-behind victory Saturday night, saying that South Carolina voters proved that bold ideas could trump deep campaign coffers. “Thank you to everyone in South Carolina who decided to be with us in changing Washington,” he said, speaking to hundreds of jubilant supporters overflowing a hotel ballroom here. “The biggest thing I take from the campaign in South Carolina is that it is very humbling and very sobering to have so many people who so deeply want their country to get back on the right track.

United we stood Re "When unity was all-American," Column, Dec. 5 On a beautiful Sunday morning, I was listening to a football game with several other men when suddenly a special announcement interrupted the broadcast: "Pearl Harbor has been bombed. " We looked at each other and said, "Where's Pearl Harbor?" It didn't take us long to find out. In less than two months, we had all enlisted in the United States armed forces. Franklin D. Roosevelt said we'd never forget that day. Seventy years later, I remember it well.

In the United States, despite a Constitution that mandates the separation of church and state, religion and politics have become inseparable. To lend authority to their views, presidential aspirants of both parties regularly press God into service. They know what he intends. So the claims made by Republican front-runner Mitt Romney in a recent speech at the Citadel managed to be both striking and unexceptionable. "God did not create this country to be a nation of followers," Romney announced.

It's that time of year again. With the days long and the skies blue, Americans everywhere load up the family car, fire up the GPS … and gripe about how they don't get enough vacation time. For once, our whining is justified. Each year we work more and enjoy fewer vacation days than most other industrialized nations. Europeans, by contrast, take their vacations very seriously, as anyone who has ever tried to reach someone, anyone , in Paris in August knows. All European workers are entitled to at least four weeks' vacation.

Unlike the Iraq war, which smacked of go-it-alone cowboyism, the Libyan intervention has been for the most part a multilateralist's dream: an idealistic granola bar of an operation, carefully orchestrated to win broad support from nations around the world. Not only did President Obama seek and receive the blessing of the U.N. Security Council, the Arab League and many of America's traditional allies before signing on to the no-fly zone, he even allowed the French to lead the charge. Conservatives were unimpressed.

It's that time of year again. With the days long and the skies blue, Americans everywhere load up the family car, fire up the GPS … and gripe about how they don't get enough vacation time. For once, our whining is justified. Each year we work more and enjoy fewer vacation days than most other industrialized nations. Europeans, by contrast, take their vacations very seriously, as anyone who has ever tried to reach someone, anyone , in Paris in August knows. All European workers are entitled to at least four weeks' vacation.

Even if you are among those who have made an effort to disregard football since high school jocks shouldered you in the halls, next weekend's Super Bowl will be worth watching. Why? Reason No. 1: It's not soccer. American exceptionalism is alive and thriving on Super Bowl Sunday. National Football League franchises are overwhelmingly owned, managed and manned by American citizens. Even as other major sports have growing numbers of Latin American, Asian and Eastern European players, pro football remains ours alone.