Last night, in his State of the Union, President Barack Obama claimed, “We have to make America the best place on Earth to do business. … That’s how our people will prosper. That’s how we’ll win the future.” This is true. But then he went on to say: “We know what it takes to compete for the jobs and industries of our time.” No. No, he doesn’t. The rest of the President’s speech made it very clear that he has no idea what makes America the best place on earth …
American exceptionalism is currently at the heart of a great debate over the country’s future and, according to one presidential hopeful at least, will be “one of the two or three deciding issues in 2012.” USA Today devoted its cover story yesterday to the storm of controversy that President Obama’s off-the-cuff remarks on the subject in Strasbourg last year continue to generate. According to a Gallup poll commissioned by USA Today for the story, three quarters of Americans fear that the country is at risk of losing its unique character. …
In his acceptance speech on Tuesday, November 2, 2010, Senator-Elect Marco Rubio of Florida said, “Americans believe with all their hearts…that the United States of America is simply the single greatest nation in all of human history, a place without equal in the history of all mankind.” The reality of American exceptionalism was a theme on the campaign trail, especially among conservatives. Americans agree that the United States is a great nation, but why is America exceptional and why does it matter? While other nations are bound by a common …
Almost two years ago, after President Obama’s obsequious bow before a Saudi prince, many Americans began to wonder whether this “citizen of the world” knew what he was doing with America’s foreign policy. The passage of time has revealed a stunning lack of diplomatic sophistication and a dangerous misunderstanding of America’s role in the world. In a new issue of Foreign Policy magazine, foreign policy experts offer President Obama a “Plan B” to supplement the White House’s incoherent and ineffective foreign policy agenda – in their words, to help the …
At an event in Florida last week, former Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives Marco Rubio told a crowd: This race is not your traditional race. It is a referendum on our identity. This race forces us to answer a very simple question: Do we want our country to continue to be exceptional, or are we prepared for it to become just like everybody else? The debate on American exceptionalism has garnered widespread attention this season. It has been a Tea Party rallying cry and an object of liberals’ …
In this final part of our series highlighting the thoughts of conservative and libertarian leaders on American Independence and the Founding, we asked: What do you think makes America exceptional? Lawrence W. Reed, President of the Foundation for Economic Education: America is exceptional because Americans after the Founding showed that they really did take their new freedoms seriously. They did not expect much from their new government, other than to protect the peace and otherwise leave them alone. They didn’t wait for government to show them how to build a …
You can’t argue with success – or can you? Newly released international opinion polls of the image of the United States bring the good news that global publics continue to view the American president and United States as a country in a favorable light. The question that has to be asked, though, is whether this improved image is a result of a perceived new direction in American foreign policy – the Obama Doctrine –which could end up weakening American leadership as the sole remaining superpower and American national security. According …
CHICAGO – Protect America Month 2010, the Heritage Foundation’s annual series of events and publications aimed at highlighting key national security issues and promoting sensible defense and homeland security policies, hit the road today with a special address in Chicago by former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton. Ambassador Bolton began his remarks by explaining why he refers to President Obama as a “post-American” president. The first problem, he argued, is that President Obama doesn’t care about national security. It is not where his attention is focused. The …
Here’s one that’s a little hard even for media folks to figure. Out of the blue, the Associated Press quietly issued a new style rule that took effect at 3 a.m. Nov. 14. As a result of this 3 a.m. call, the AP will sound a more formal tone when referring to the president of the United States for the first time in its news reports. No more “President Bush this” or “President Bush that” when AP copy in America — whether written for broadcast, print or online — initially …
