Putin on American Exceptionalism

President Obama's speech Tuesday made a case for U.S. intervention in the Syrian civil war based on American exceptionalism:

Our ideals and principles, as well as our national security, are at stake in Syria, along with our leadership of a world where we seek to ensure that the worst weapons will never be used. America is not the world’s policeman. Terrible things happen across the globe, and it is beyond our means to right every wrong. But when, with modest effort and risk, we can stop children from being gassed to death and thereby make our own children safer over the long run, I believe we should act. That’s what makes America different. That’s what makes us exceptional. 

With humility, but with resolve, let us never lose sight of that essential truth.

Russian president Vladimir Putin responds today with an opinion piece in the New York Times:

My working and personal relationship with President Obama is marked by growing trust. I appreciate this. I carefully studied his address to the nation on Tuesday. And I would rather disagree with a case he made on American exceptionalism, stating that the United States’ policy is “what makes America different. It’s what makes us exceptional.” It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation. There are big countries and small countries, rich and poor, those with long democratic traditions and those still finding their way to democracy. Their policies differ, too. We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord’s blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal.

American exceptionalism ties in with Manifest Destiny, a doctrine which justified gobbling up territory as the nation expanded westward in the nineteenth century, as well as the Old Testament notion of the Jews as Yahweh's chosen people. Noam Chomsky discussed at length during a Democracy Now! telephone interview that was broadcast yesterday how American exceptionalism runs through the post-war international order that was created with the founding of the United Nations.

The sense that I get reading the newspaper this morning is that the actors who have been fueling the conflict -- the Syrian National Coalition, Turkey, Israel, warhawks in the United States Government, et al. -- are disappointed in and dismissive of the Russian proposal to de-escalate the war by having Syria sign the international Convention on Chemical Weapons, which bans the manufacture, storage and use of the weapons. Look out for additional provocations that could justify the use of force.

But one great barrier to escalation that isn't going to collapse anytime soon is public opinion. A realignment is underway in American politics that will have repercussions in upcoming legislative struggles and election campaigns. The Tea Party has found common cause with Progressives. As I see it, the Democrats have more to lose than the GOP. Without the Progressives, the Dems are a party without a base. Obama's great success as a politician has been his ability to keep Progressives aligned, however loosely, with the Democratic National Committee. This is about to change.