American Exceptionalism

This is a term we are hearing a lot.  Apparently Karen Tumulty is too, but she doesn't seem to understand the meaning. She seems to agree with the ones who would deny it and take it as only an affront to President Obama. In an editorial in the Washington Post, she says:

 Much of this criticism harkens back to a single comment that Obama made at a news conference a year and a half ago in Strasbourg, France, during his first trip overseas as president.

Obama was asked by Financial Times correspondent Ed Luce whether he subscribes, as his predecessors did, "to the school of American exceptionalism that sees America as uniquely qualified to lead the world."

The president's answer began: "I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism."

She shows her colors when she goes on to say "That may have been a nod to the fact that many abroad hear talk of American exceptionalism as worrisome jingoism. But it provided ammunition for Palin and other Republican critics. "
 
I believe she is showing us how she feels and is projecting her feelings to "many abroad."
If she believed in American exceptionalism she would see it as a feeling we conservatives actually have about our country, not as a hammer to beat up on the president.
 
Read it all and see what you think.  See this also in the Washington Post What the right's "American exceptionalism" attack on Obama is really about By Greg Sargent