The really exceptional thing about America is its ideological belief in its exceptionally exceptional exception and how easily it erases history so it can mirror mirror on the wall and see itself as a force for good in the world.

A country where the top 10% of the people have 70% of the wealth and the top 1% almost 40%. Now that is exceptional, indeed.

This was a good conversation;just the right amount of “hmmm” and push-back.

I disagree that McCain and Obama have that much similarity. Perhaps the words, but that may be all. And then McCain has been parroting Obama. There is quite a choice between one and the other even with the disappointment on Obama’s dissembling and surprising postions on issues such as guns and FISA. McCain is as dull as they come not eloquent, not above being mean-spirited.

I especially appreciated Chris’s worry about whether we are examining fully enough, deeply enough what went wrong these last years and whether recovery should mean back to domination and unilateralism. But also I think Widner had a point, or was leading to a point that the Europeans post war are leaving dire situations in the world (that may call for military action) to us with the luxury of knowing that we would eventually act.

Look at Berlin. Could one imagine a German candidate for Chancellor, coming to New York, addressing a crowd of 200,000 in Central Park…in GERMAN!

Impossible!!

The fact that only an American could get away with this, and one who is only a candidate for the presidency at that, is proof enough that America is no ordinary nation.

“Any and all who arrived could own their own land and cultivate an independent life. Sparse elites and a number of landed aristocrats existed, but, according to Tocqueville, these few stood no chance against the rapidly developing values bred by such vast land ownership. With such an open society, layered with so much opportunity, men of all sorts began working their way up in the world: industriousness became a dominant ethic, and “middling” values began taking root.”

I think American exceptionalism stems from that beginning.

Obama is the embodiment of that line “men of all sorts.”

American’s feel in every fiber of our being that we are the only country where “men of all sorts” can create their own destiny. And the men/women who have risen in this land, tend to share some common traits: pugnacity, self-reliance, strong faith, and above all, enthusiasm.