The Myth of American Exceptionalism - By Stephen M. Walt. Over the last two centuries, prominent Americans have described the United States as an "empire of liberty," a "shining city on a hill," the "last best hope of Earth," the "leader of the free world," and the "indispensable nation.
" These enduring tropes explain why all presidential candidates feel compelled to offer ritualistic paeans to America's greatness and why President Barack Obama landed in hot water -- most recently, from Mitt Romney -- for saying that while he believed in "American exceptionalism," it was no different from "British exceptionalism," "Greek exceptionalism," or any other country's brand of patriotic chest-thumping. Most statements of "American exceptionalism" presume that America's values, political system, and history are unique and worthy of universal admiration.
They also imply that the United States is both destined and entitled to play a distinct and positive role on the world stage. Myth 1There Is Something Exceptional About American Exceptionalism. Candidates and the Truth About America. Items that you save may be read at any time on your computer, iPad, iPhone or Android devices.
Access your saved items by selecting Saved Items from the menu under your username at the top right of any page on NYTimes.com. Rotting From the Inside Out - By Michael A. Cohen. Barack Obama and Mitt Romney don't generally agree on much.
But these days they appear to have one area of surprising consensus -- they both believe that stories of American decline are greatly exaggerated. According to Foreign Policy's own Josh Rogin, Obama has been praising Robert Kagan's recent article in the New Republic on the myth of American decline -- a perhaps not unsurprising position to take for a candidate regularly accused of being insufficiently exceptionalist.
Romney -- author ofNo Apology: The Case for American Greatness -- also counts Kagan among his top foreign-policy advisors. Decline of American Exceptionalism.