Morning Bell: Defending Freedom is a Choice
Conn Carroll /
In April 2009 in Strasbourg, France, President Barack Obama was asked at a press conference if he “subscribe[d], as many of your predecessors have, to the school of American exceptionalism that sees America as uniquely qualified to lead the world, or do you have a slightly different philosophy?” President Obama then responded: “I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism.”
In other words, the President does not see anything unique about America’s role in history or the world. Some of our past Presidents have seen it differently, including President Ronald Reagan who once explained to Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev:
When World War II ended, the United States had the only undamaged industrial power in the world. Our military might was at its peak, and we alone had the ultimate weapon, the nuclear weapon, with the unquestioned ability to deliver it anywhere in the world. If we had sought world domination then, who could have opposed us? But the United States followed a different course, one unique in all the history of mankind. We used our power and wealth to rebuild the war-ravished economies of the world, including those of the nations who had been our enemies.