The Obama Diary

Greg Sargent (Washington Post): A lot of people have already jumped on Kathleen Parker for her column yesterday faulting Obama for not using the actual phrase “American exceptionalism” in his State of the Union speech. But to me the funniest part of her column is that way down in the seventeenth paragraph, she actually admitted that one of the primary pieces of evidence allegedly proving that Obama doesn’t believe in “American exceptionalism” is total nonsense.

Conservatives often deride Obama over remarks he made at a presser in April of 2009, in which he said that he believes in American exceptionalism “just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism.” But as Parker apparently felt compelled to acknowledge, that’s not all he said:

…”What Obama added was that “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 also said at that presser that he is “enormously proud of my country and its role and history in the world.” And he hailed America’s “continued extraordinary role in leading the world towards peace and prosperity.” Parker didn’t tell you about those two quotes.

…That this admission comes in a column faulting Obama for not using the phrase in his speech last week, of course, tells you all you need to know about how absurd and self-parodic this ongoing attack has become.

Full article here