American Exceptionalism, what the Right Wing Demands

Dick Cheney and other Neo ultra-conservative right wingers have complained that Pres. Obama does not proclaim American Exceptionalism in his speeches. They are angry that he apologized for Bushes violations of international law and treaties. And for the unilateral arrogance Bush presented to the world.

But what is American Exceptionalism? To the far right wing it is that America is blessed by God to be the greatest country on the earth and we should tell the world that we are. But that is pure arrogance, not exceptionalism. To be an exceptional country in the world, as we have been in the past, requires that you demonstrate by our acts at home and in the world a morality of respect for others, respect for international laws and treaties we signed, the continued push for human rights for all of the worlds inhabitants and being a partner of all countries on the planet respecting the needs of other countries. Also understanding the impact on other countries from the choices we make here in America. When we act in this moral way, then we gain the respect and admiration from peoples around the world. In the end this respect will garner greater benefits to the American people than the arrogance of the Bush administration.

Our path to exceptionalism was the result of our participation in World War I and II in support of Europe. We sacrificed greatly to defeat acts of inhumanity against others. We demonstrated it in Korea and Bosnia. But we lost it with the invasion of Iraq under George "W" Bush.

Dick Cheney is wrong that by simply proclaiming we are the exceptional nation because we were the last one standing in the Cold War and everyone should bow to our desires is totally wrong. To force acceptance of our wishes through threat of military might and economic manipulation will only create hatred, alienation and disrespect for our nation.

The results of this arrogance by Bush is demonstrated in how countries  interact with America now. Just the simple tally of how many troops from other countries were involved in the Iraq war is proof. Bush senior pulled a large coalition of nations, including Arab, to force Iraq out of Kuwaiti. His son, George W only got a small group of mainly token troops to join his cause to take out Saddam. None of the Arab nations joined him and gave him little support, other than the one airbase in Saudi Arabia, which we had to abandon to keep the current regime in power.

My opinion is that Pres. Obama has done a great job of reestablishing our credibility with the international community. But I don't think we will ever reach the level we had under Bush senior and Bill Clinton. The damage George W did is too dramatic to easily overcome. It may take a generation or more to return to the prominence we once enjoyed. We no longer can be the bully on the block. We have to be an equal partner on the planet and respect other nations and their problems. Only then can we regain our moral compass of human rights, and obeying international law, as well as our own constitutional law.

Another issue that diminishes our strength as a potential exceptional nation is that we are a debtor nation now. We went from a budget surplus to borrowing trillions of dollars  from China and Russia. That changes our economic strength in dealing with other countries who are doing better on the economic front. As long as we have to borrow huge sums of money from less than open free democracies, our ability to push human rights issues is compromised greatly. We can't afford to be the military bully when we owe too much money to that regime. It's like telling your mortgage company to fuck off while your asking for more credit, a lower interest rate and extending the payment period. It not going to happen. So by being soft of China and Russia, that give us no credibility to force human rights issues with any other country, like Uganda, who is about to pass a law imprisoning and executing homosexuals.