Barack Obama was an adversary of American exceptionalism. Anti-exceptionalism clearly shaped his “leading from behind” profile abroad. Once in office his “hope and change” campaign slogan came to look like the “hope” of overcoming American exceptionalism and “change” away from it.
So, in Mr. Obama, America gained a president with ambivalence, if not some antipathy, toward the singular greatness of the nation he had been elected to lead.
In doing this, Obama ignored a singular example of American exceptionalism that occurred just a few short years before he entered the Oval Office as President.
I am talking about the often-overlooked story about 9-11. That story is the boat lift that evacuated half a million people from lower Manhattan. It was and still is the largest water-borne evacuation in history. And it was done in 9 hours. Think about that. Half a million people evacuated from lower Manhattan…by boat…in 9 hours!
At the time no one knew what could happen next. The bridges and tunnels had been shut down. Manhattan was cut off from the rest of the country. When the call went out, the response was overwhelming. Boats came from everywhere to help. The images of New York harbor with all those boats remains as a vivid example of America at its best.
These were ordinary people who “just did it!”
None of these people wore a shirt that said hero. But, they were heroes, every single one of them. And they were examples of American exceptionalism at its best.