American Exceptionalism

  I certainly don't intend to vote for anyone other than President Obama this fall ( I can't see myself ever voting for any Republican in any election unless the Republican party radically changes what they stand for at some point in my life. ), but I enjoy politics in general as a spectator sports, and the Republican contest for the 2012 Presidential nomination has been as entertaining as any political contest in recent memory.  The Republican electorate's futile search for a viable non-Romney candidate has been fascinating.  It's been entertaining as all hell to watch all the Republican in-fighting and the rise and fall of candidates like Michele Bachmann ( Her anit-gay yet flaming-gay husband has been worth the price of admission.  I will never again wonder why Michele Bachman is so f*cked up. ), Rick Perry ( Ooops! ), Herman Cain ( Insert pizza-related sexual harassment joke here ), Rick Santorum ( God, I don't even know where to start with this guy.  Just go ahead and Google "Rick Santorum closet" and have some fun. ), Donald Trump ( ????? ), and Newt Gingrich ( who was at the bottom of the polls and had his whole campaign staff resign, then rose to the top of the polls, then dropped back near the bottom before the first contest in Iowa, then rose back to the top of the polls in time for the South Carolina primary, and now has dropped back into to second place again just a week later ).

Newt Gingrich has been by far the most fascinating of the GOP candidates.  Considering his personal history ( He cheated on his first wife and discussed divorce with her when she was in the hospital for cancer.  He was cheating on his second wife while he tried to get President Clinton impeached for infidelity, and divorced his second wife months after she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. ) and his political history ( He was charged with ethics violations when he was Speaker of the House or Representatives.  He was reprimanded and fined $300,000 by the House by a 395-28 vote. ), it's no surprise that polls show that less than 30 % of the country views him favorably.  As somebody who wants President Obama to win in November, I was pretty happy when it became apparent that Newt actually had a realistic chance to be the GOP nominee.  However, after watching the speech below, I've decided that it would dangerous to underestimate Newt.





That speech was brilliant.  I don't agree with a single word Newt said in it, but it was brilliant.  In 20 minutes, he said just about everything a GOP candidates needs to say to attract GOP voters ( plus he managed to make a sly play for Ron Paul's voters ).  Newt hit all the rights notes, including the notes for all the "hidden messages" that all Republican candidates need to send if they want to attract racist Republican voters while not offending non-racist Republican voters.  Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to imply that all Republicans are racist.  What I'm trying to say can best be summed up by this quote from Bill Maher:


"I'm not saying all Republicans are racist, but if you're racist, you're probably a Republican"

This may not be something that Republicans want to hear, but it's reality, and every Republican political operative knows it.  In the game of politics, any campaign manager who is actually earning his or her paycheck will try to win votes by any means necessary.  Winning "by any means necessary" means not leaving any votes behind.  It means trying to win every vote that's out there to win, including the votes of racists.

Oh, and by the way, if you think that pandering to racist voters is something that only Republican candidates do, I have two words for you ... Sister Souljah.

However, while both Democrats and Republicans have played the racist-card in the past, Republicans certainly have more to gain from it, especially considering who happens to be President right now.

So as I mentioned in this post, Republicans often need to talk in code, and Gingrich is a master at it.  A particularly good example of this can been seen in the YouTube clip above starting at the 11:25 mark.  Newt says ".. but the centerpiece of this campaign is American Exceptionalism verses the radicalism of Saul Alinsky." and "he ( President Obama ) draws his ( understanding of America ) from Saul Alinsky.".  He also makes sure to link President Obama to Saul Alinsky again near the end of the speech.  I highly doubt that many voters have any idea who Saul Alinksy is ( I'll admit that I didn't until I looked it up ),  but I'm sure most voters recognize that the name "Saul Alinsky" sounds extremely Jewish.  So, I wouldn't be surprised if Newt keeps putting "Obama" and "Saul Alinsky" in the same sentences of his campaign speeches, because if there is one thing racists voters hate more than a black guy, it's a black guy who hangs out with Jews ( BTW, Barack Obama was 10 when Saul Alinsky died, so he clearly never met the man, but I don't think racist voters are going to do the research to figure that out. ).

In any case, it's not really Newt or his hidden messages that riled me up and inspired me to write this post.  What really got me going was Newt's invocation of American Exceptionalism.  Newt's certainly not alone in the GOP field in invoking this concept.  Mitt Romney wrote a book called "No Apology: The Case for American Greatness", so no matter who Obama faces in the general election, he's going to to be attacked on this issue.

The concept of American Exceptionalism can be traced all the way back to 1831, and it has certainly evolved over the years, but when Republicans invoke it these days they are usually trying to say that the USA is a near-perfect nation which never does anything wrong.  They are trying to imply that anyone who doesn't believe that is unpatriotic.   I find that concept to be abhorrent on many levels ( and actually quite an un-patriotic ), and I hope that Obama has the balls to trash this concept when Romney or Gingrich inevitably attacks him with it.  However, I'm not really counting on Obama to show any balls, especially because he's been quoted as saying the following about American Exceptionalism:

 "I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism."

I can kinda see what Obama was trying to say here.  He was talking in the kind of code that Democrats sometime need to talk in.  He was trying to assure people like me that he thinks the GOP concept of American Exceptionalism is silly, but he's doing it in a way that he hopes will keep people from thinking that he's unpatriotic.  However, I think the comment above isn't a strong enough defense against the inevitable "American Exceptionalism" attacks.  The comment above makes him seem wishy-washy to folks like me, and not-sufficiently patriotic to the believers in American Exceptionalism.  I think President Obama need to tackle this issue head on.  If I were on the President's campaign team, I would advice him to say something like the following if somebody like Gingrich brings up American Exceptionalism in a Presidential debate:  

"Republicans like yourself like to perpetuate the fallacy that those who do not believe in American Exceptionalism are not patriotic.  You imply that those who do not believe in American Exceptionalism do not believe the USA is the greatest country in the world.  Well, Speaker Gingrich ( or Governor Romney - BTW, I'll willing to accept that former Presidents should be called "President" in perpetuity, but it's little silly to use to term "Speaker" to refer to a guy who was booted out of his Speaker job by his own party. ), I do believe we live in the greatest country in the world.  However, just because the USA is the best country in the world, that doesn't mean we shouldn't work hard to make it better.  Resting on our laurels isn't what made America great.  Patting ourselves on the back isn't the American Way.  Working hard is the American Way.  I believe that all Americans should be working hard to make this country better.  Words alone won't make us better.  Belief alone won't make us better.  Only action will make us better.  We need to take the actions that will give every American the opportunity to succeed. ( After that, he should point out Democratic policies that will improve America and help ordinary Americans succeed. )." 


Anyway, time to send this post out in time for the Florida Primary.  I'm really looking forward to following it tomorrow night.


Rich