Thursday, March 6, 2014

We’re Just Not That Special

by ANDREW J. BACEVICH
Unless Barack Obama is even a weaker president than he appears to be, the effusion of editorial emoting unleashed by the Ukraine crisis is unlikely to have any effect on U.S. policy. Pray, let that be the case.
Should Obama’s advisers look for guidance to the opinion pages of the Washington Post or the Wall Street Journal, much less the Weekly Standard or Fox News, we’re in deep trouble. One might as well leaf through the latest Victoria’s Secret catalog for guidance on empowering women.
Still, the recent flurry of angst-filled opining provides a concise tutorial on what we might call the theology of American Exceptionalism, the irreligious religion that flourishes in certain quarters of the American elite and periodically finds favor with the larger body politic.
Central to that theology are several tenets, vividly displayed by overwrought commentators over the last several days.

1 comment:

  1. Hi Publius. You know, that Morris Berman is not quite what he represents himself as. He may (though *probably* not) even be some kind of operatve. He banned me from commenting on his blog. I'm interested in talking to like-minded people about the Ukraine mess and other matters. Please drop me a note at revusky(at)gmail.com. (I intend to delete this comment afterwards, since it was only to make contact with you. Or if you're moderating, no need to approve it.)

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