Posted by Tina
President Vladimir Putin spoke directly to the American people today in a letter published in the New York Times. The letter demonstrates leadership and the fact that he has trumped President Obama on the world stage. Speaking diplomatically he managed to shake his finger at America while assuming for himself (Russia) the mantle of peaceful negotiator. His appeal is quite compelling but ended with a lie unfortunately delivered first by our own President:
My working and personal relationship with President Obama is marked by growing trust. I appreciate this. I carefully studied his address to the nation on Tuesday. And I would rather disagree with a case he made on American exceptionalism, stating that the United States’ policy is “what makes America different. It’s what makes us exceptional.” It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation. There are big countries and small countries, rich and poor, those with long democratic traditions and those still finding their way to democracy. Their policies differ, too. We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord’s blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal. (emphasis mine)
It’s a shame that the man who represents America to the world is not grounded in the principles that have made America exceptional; principles that when contrasted with the governance of despots, tyrants, dictators, and kings stands out as both valuable and unique. Last Tuesday evening President Obama did indeed make the following unfortunate statement in his address to the nation:
America is not the world’s policeman. Terrible things happen across the globe, and it is beyond our means to right every wrong. But when, with modest effort and risk, we can stop children from being gassed to death, and thereby make our own children safer over the long run, I believe we should act. That’s what makes America different. That’s what makes us exceptional. With humility, but with resolve, let us never lose sight of that essential truth.
President’s are called upon to make difficult decisions and it would be foolish to expect every decision and every remark to be perfect. But never before now has a president of the United States wavered…failed so miserably to represent America. Freedom and recognized individual rights (equality) are the principles that have made America the envy of the world…freedom is what has made America “exceptional” in the world.
America has never claimed that her people are more capable or more special as human beings. We have never claimed an egotistical or arrogant brand of exceptionalism. America was founded on the notion that God created all men equal…Putin’s personal record stands in direct conflict with the notion of equality…the people of America need not be lectured on this vital principle.
It is unfortunate that we have elected and then re-elected a man who does not appreciate or understand something so basic to the fabric of our nation. Our nation’s birth gave human beings for the first time in history the chance to pursue happiness in liberty and through individual effort, individual creativity, individual cooperation and striving for excellence we built a thriving land of opportunity.
God bless America. The world needs the example!
Some more schooling…
http://www.pjtv.com/?cmd=mpg&load=8861&mpid=56
Even more wisdom from James Taranto, WSJ:
Listen up America lest we lose our fundamental God given freedom!
“America is not the world’s policeman. Terrible things happen across the globe, and it is beyond our means to right every wrong. But when, with modest effort and risk, we can stop children from being gassed to death, and thereby make our own children safer over the long run, I believe we should act. That’s what makes America different. That’s what makes us exceptional. With humility, but with resolve, let us never lose sight of that essential truth.”
Unfortunate? How so?
Libby Putin didn’t grab that line.
Putin grabbed the line about American exceptionalism being about policy. Policy isn’t what makes America an exceptional country…as I indicated in my post, it is freedom for every individual that makes America an exceptional country and an example in the world.
Making the world safe for children is a position anyone would adopt, except people like radical Palestinians and terrorists. Its rather like saying the sun’s warmth is necessary for survival…so what?
The President’s (And his administration’s) bumbling posture and policy have worked perfectly to relinquish power to Putin. He grabbed it right up and discredited America in the process…with a smile, of course, he is a practiced Alinskyite.
Good to hear from you Libs!
I’m not talking about Pooty, I’m asking you. You (or Jack) characterized the paragraph as “unfortunate.”
I’d like to know why. I mean, aside from the fact that I came out of Obama’s face.
Sloooooow day at the salt mine.
I was even driven to check out the World of Juanita. But my employer has it blocked … for pornography … giggle.
Oh dear … that’s an unfortunate typo, there in the first post. … “it came out of”, etc. … really very unfortunate.
This really got to you, huh Libs?
Let me try again.
I did not refer to the entire paragraph as unfortunate. I wrote that the lie at the end of Putin’s statement, which was also said first by Obama, was unfortunate. The lie is that America is an exceptional country based on policy or, as Putin also implied, is exceptional because we think our people are somehow superior. Remember Obama’s speech in Cairo? He showed his ignorance of American exceptionalism in that speech as well.
America is exceptional in the world because she was the first nation to be conceived in liberty for every single individual. All other nations evolved from tribes with kings, dictators, or some other authority figure and his elite guard having ultimate power over individuals.
It is indeed unfortunate that someone who has been elected President of the United States has so clearly demonstrated through his speech that he lacks fundamental grounding in this area. It’s not really surprising, however, since his formative years were spent either in the Middle East or where he was surrounded by radical Marxist influences.
America is not “different” or exceptional because we “…can stop children from being gassed to death, and thereby make our own children safer over the long run…”
Other countries have that capacity and certainly most people have the innate desire to protect children.
America is exceptional because when people are free amazing things follow. When people are free they have the opportunity to pursue their dreams and care for themselves and their children. They have the opportunity to acquire land and possessions to provide security for themselves and their families. The have opportunity to accumulate wealth to whatever degree has meaning for them…kings, despots…the elite were the only people who could obtain property and standing before America became the exception! Free peoples are also generally less hostile and more cooperative toward/with others. Before America, human beings had not experienced that blessing. The Declaration of Independence is a document unique in the world because our rights are recognized as given from God…not a human being…so that they cannot be taken away. Our Constitution is a protection for us against would be despots and tyrants (Which is why patriots are now, increasingly, through administrations from both parties, so alarmed. We fear we will lose our freedom and rights to government elites who just keep taking more and more power unto themselves!) this President models that kind of persona more completely than any other president ever has. And Putin is taking advantage of the situation which is also very troubling for the world. this man is not steeped in the tradition of individual freedom and property rights…he only marginally embraces capitalism and free markets.
Better?
Libby: “Oh dear … that’s an unfortunate typo, there in the first post.”
Huh?
I have to echo Libby’s bewilderment. First you said your problem was that Obama doesn’t view America as exceptional (even though he has said that we are an exceptional nation many times before). Now even when you admit that he says we are exceptional, it’s not good enough because he didn’t list the right reasons? This is partisan nitpicking at its worst. I am sure I can find many examples of politicians on the right boasting that part of what makes America exceptional is our military might.
Putin is a gigantic hypocrite. But let’s not ignore the praise he’s gotten from many social conservatives on the right, from FOX News figures like Todd Starnes to designated hate groups like the American Family Association and Focus on the Family, to your very own Gate, all for the draconian anti-gay laws Putin has passed. These laws are poison to any definition of freedom of speech, as they ban any positive depictions of gays and lesbians in the media, but that’s alright by these so-called “conservatives” who have sided with Russia over the United States. Their hatred for gays is greater than their love of freedom.
Libby: “I’d like to know why. I mean, aside from the fact that I came out of Obama’s face.”
I don’t know if I find this line more or less funny because of the type. Either way, I’ve missed you here, Libby! And you’re exactly right; it doesn’t matter what Obama says at this point, what matters is that Obama is the one saying it.
Chris if it has to be explained further to you your own education and experience about American exceptionalism must mirror that of the President’s.
I did not, by the way, say or imply that Obama doesn’t “view America as exceptional”.
I wrote that it is clear from his words, here and elsewhere, that he has no grounding, no fundamental understanding of American exceptionalism. If he did he wouldn’t make statements like he did in Cairo or like he did before the American people Tuesday night…rambling on about protecting children.
His groveling and pandering in Cairo, that America could “learn from other nations” is particularly alarming since America is a huge melting pot…we live and have grown out of the experience of other peoples form every nation…it is part of our heritage.
Your objection is astounding! My observation has NOTHING to do with partisanship or politicking…NOTHING! It has to do with America and the position we hold in the world and the clever, and possibly evil, way that Putin has bested our leader.
You will find people from both sides of the aisle “boasting” about our excellent military.
The point is THIS ISN’T ABOUT BOASTING!!!!!!!!! That is why you cannot get the total irony or the covert slap or the loss of position or the possibly horrible diplomatic implications going forward and instead reduce my comments to nitpicking.
This is about having an appreciation for the fundamental thing that makes America a unique nation…a thing that could be available to anyone in the world. It is most valuable! It is freedom…freedom! For heavens sake, do you truly not understand how fortunate you are to be a free individual? Can you not see that this word, exceptional, was not meant as a boast but as a beacon…illustrating a flame of hope for peoples of all kinds all around the world…especially people living in tyranny?
Can you not see that in one fell swoop Putin struck a blow to undermine that natural, God given, right and dismissed the President of the United States as both ineffectual and weak as he took over the position of world leader?
I can. And your own nitpicking objection is completely out in left field! Of course.
Your own “hatred” is a thing to behold as well…as long as you insist on using that word.
The Telegraph‘s take on the current circumstances:
Meanwhile the Washington Examiner reports the following:
Tina, Obama has affirmed your definition of “American exceptionalism” before–you even posted an article about it:
“We have a core set of values that are enshrined in our Constitution, in our body of law, in our democratic practices, in our belief in free speech and equality, that, though imperfect, are exceptional…”
Obama gets that we are exceptional because of our freedom and so do I, so you can save the “Why don’t you believe in freedom?!” strawman nonsense.
This administration continues to lie forgetting the truth will come out thanks to the availability of information on the internet.
James Clapper was involved in documenting the movement of chemical weapons from Iraq to Syria. Below articles and links worth the time to read.
Flashback: Chemical Weapons In Syria Include WMDs Shipped From Iraq—-Note…that the present DNI James Clapper said in 2007 that much of the WMDs in Iraq had in fact been shipped to Syria.:
As the military reported, after we went into Iraq, chemical weapons, facilities and residue were in fact found, and kept being found for years afterward.
Via NY Post from 2010:
There were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq after all.
The massive cache of almost 400,000 Iraq war documents released by the WikiLeaks Web site revealed that small amounts of chemical weapons were found in Iraq and continued to surface for years after the 2003 US invasion, Wired magazine reported.
The documents showed that US troops continued to find chemical weapons and labs for years after the invasion, including remnants of Saddam Hussein’s chemical weapons arsenal — most of which had been destroyed following the Gulf War.
In August 2004, American troops were able to buy containers from locals of what they thought was liquid sulfur mustard, a blister agent, the documents revealed. The chemicals were triple-sealed and taken to a secure site.
Also in 2004, troops discovered a chemical lab in a house in Fallujah during a battle with insurgents. A chemical cache was also found in the city.
Note here that the present DNI James Clapper said in 2007 that much of the WMDs in Iraq had in fact been shipped to Syria.
http://beforeitsnews.com/middle-east/2013/09/flashback-chemical-weapons-in-syria-include-wmds-shipped-from-iraq-note-that-the-present-dni-james-clapper-said-in-2007-that-much-of-the-wmds-in-iraq-had-in-fact-been-shipped-to-syria-2454026.html
Syria’s Chemical Weapons Came From Saddam’s Iraq:
The irony here is that the chemical weapons stockpile of Syrian thug Assad may in large part be the legacy of weapons moved from Hussein’s Iraq into Syria before Operation Iraqi Freedom.
If so, this may be the reason not much was found in the way of WMD by victorious U.S. forces in 2003.
In 2006, former Iraqi general Georges Sada, second in command of the Iraqi Air Force who served under Saddam Hussein before he defected, wrote a comprehensive book, “Saddam’s Secrets.”
It details how the Iraqi Revolutionary Guard moved weapons of mass destruction into Syria in advance of the U.S.-led action to eliminate Hussein’s WMD threat.
As Sada told the New York Sun, two Iraqi Airways Boeings were converted to cargo planes by removing the seats, and special Republican Guard units loaded the planes with chemical weapons materials.
There were 56 flights disguised as a relief effort after a 2002 Syrian dam collapse.
There were also truck convoys into Syria. Sada’s comments came more than a month after Israel’s top general during Operation Iraqi Freedom, Moshe Yaalon, told the Sun that Saddam “transferred the chemical agents from Iraq to Syria.”
Both Israeli and U.S. intelligence observed large truck convoys leaving Iraq and entering Syria in the weeks and months before Operation Iraqi Freedom, John Shaw, former deputy undersecretary of defense for international technology security, told a private conference of former weapons inspectors and intelligence experts held in Arlington, Va., in 2006.
According to Shaw, ex-Russian intelligence chief Yevgeni Primakov, a KGB general with long-standing ties to Saddam, went to Iraq in December 2002 and stayed until just before the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003.
Anticipating the invasion, his job was to supervise the removal of such weapons and erase as much evidence of Russian involvement as possible.
http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/071912-618875-syria-chemical-weapons-came-from-iraq-.htm
We the United States are indeed exceptional! If it were not for the US, Putin would be speaking German. Not to mention we defeated his USSR without firing a shot. (more or less)
Our exceptionalism put Americans on the moon. Our exceptionalism gave the world the telegraph, the telephone, the light bulb and the infrastructure to use it. If Americans didn’t actually invent something, you can bet that an American improved it.
Having said that, it is not the material things that make us exceptional, it is our founding ideals. It is those ideals that make people want to become American. Until Obama you didn’t see Americans fleeing the US to be something else.
Obama does make our government look foolish and weak, he will be gone and things will improve.
The American Left love what Putin said, they are all about destroying our exceptionalism. They deny our exceptionalism but for something they say doesn’t exist, they spend a lot of time, money and effort demeaning it.
Putin should take what he can while he can because a time will come that his chump (Obama) will be gone.
Chris: “…so you can save the “Why don’t you believe in freedom?!” strawman nonsense.:
No, sorry! You still had to ask the question. He still made a ridiculous statement that set the stage for Putin to make him look like a boob that failed to accurately express the v and. Both alue of freedomof you still do not demonstrate. he has still apologized and made excuses about America for political points.
You are simply making excuses.
““We have a core set of values that are enshrined in our Constitution, in our body of law, in our democratic practices, in our belief in free speech and equality, that, though imperfect, are exceptional…”
Obama’s view of our Constitution is that it is “imperfect” because he doesn’t believe it empowers the elites of government enough…it is too restrictive to his authority and limits his ambition. He doesn’t appreciate the fact that the constitution was written to protect the people from government overreach and intrusion. He doesn’t get that our fundamental rights are God given. he prefers the notion that the constitution, those in charge, GRANT rights. This is a perspective that is a prelude to absolute tyranny.
Progressives use the language in a way so as to confuse and confound meaning. His words always give him away but you have to be awake to notice.
Peggy we have posted some of this information several times over the years. Unfortunately the progressive activist media was more interested in damaging the Bush effort in Iraq. they don’t care about the consequences in the world and they are too full of a sense of their own superiority and magnificence to notice the damage they do.
Some guy from Time Magazine brags that Obama was reelected even though unemployment was unusually, extraordinarily high…as if the President had nothing to do with it…and he didn’t get the connection that his lack of accurate reporting DID have something to do with it.
Pathetic!
Well said Toby. We will endure (for three more years) and we will rise again under a patriotic president who values America for the blessing (to individuals) of her founding principles.
Peggy here’s another article that affirms the transfer of chemical weapons from Iraq to Syria via air transport. The information comes from from a top general in Saddam’s Air force:
The media certainly were not interested in pursuing the truth about WMD. They had a vested interest in the progressive mantra “Bush Lied People died”
You’re right, I never heard of this before until I saw it discussed on Fox the other day and decided to Google “chemical weapons, Iraq, Syria.” After reading a several articles I decided to share what I’d found, not knowing it had been discussed here on PS before I became a fan.
All I had ever heard from the media was, “There was never any proof that WMD were in Iraq.” What a bunch of you know what. Sorry to say I was one of those who fell for their lies. No more!
Thanks again for doing such a wonderful job of keeping us informed with the truth.
Thank you, Peggy, for joining in our discussions…heck, you and I are practically sisters now that I know we hail from the same state!
Go back to before W took office and look who was screaming that Iraq had to be attacked and their WMD’s had to be destroyed. These people doing the screaming had seen the reports had no doubt on the issue at all. Two of the main screamers were Hillary Clinton and John Kerry. So then W gets elected and 911 happens and then we go into Iraq after waiting for the UN to give the WMD’s time to leave the Country. They were flown out and trucked out. Rush knew it and reported it. Matt Drudge knew it and reported it. Sean Hannity knew it and reported it. Newsmax knew it and reported it. Bill O’reilly knew it and reported it.
And we talked about it here more than a few times. If you pay attention to where you get your news little things like Iraq’s WMD’s ending up in Syria wont smack you in the face.
This whole Syria chemical weapon attack/ Obama and his little stick/ Russia, is all smoke and mirrors. Russia will have control of the weapons and now they will go poof. Obama and the Left can’t allow them to be captured by someone who could trace their roots back to Iraq. It sure didn’t help that Obama’s terrorist friends aka ‘the rebels’ used the weapons.
The picture in Syria is muddy as hell, no one is worthy of our aid because they are all bad. And yet the CIA is now sending “aid” to the rebels. According to John Kerry, 20-30% of the rebels are in fact terrorists. How in the world is this a good idea?
http://www.dailyrecord.com/usatoday/article/2764567
If you read down to about the end Kerry says 15-25% are what we call bad guys. I believe he is pulling those numbers out of his ass and he is clueless as to the actual number of terrorists he is aiding. This administration needs to be tried for treason, hung,shot,drawn quartered and keelhauled. Maybe not in that order but you get the idea.
Unfortunately, as you have noted Toby, we live in a world without ideas anyone would prefer.
The one good idea, we win-they lose, is long overdue but lacks homeland support. We make progress with strong leadership but can never quite close the deal. As soon as the going gets tough the left goes soft and betrays the cause. People today seem to prefer appeasement tours even though in the end it always results in countless more deaths and suffering. As long as that conditions persists there is no point in sacrificing the brave men and women who offer their lives in service.
“Aid” (love) is always the answer with liberals…they think our enemies are just misunderstood and with a little chat from the nice people we will “all just get along”. They only look tough when they don’t have to be tough or call the shots like Hillary and Kerry before the Iraq invasion…and when they need the votes.
Russia, the Iranians, Hamas…and China are all crowing now but they’ve been laughing at the likes of Obama/Kerry in our country for years…like putty in their hands…the useful idiots.