A reader writes:
The country, these past seven years in particular, has seemed built upon a foundation of arrogant exceptionalism. We’re the damned best country in the world and we know it and it’s going to be shoved in everyone else’s face. Unilateralism. And the left has responded that we are most certainly NOT the best damned country in the world, look at this problem and that problem and everything’s wrong.
Paul says, we may be the best damned country in the world but that doesn’t mean we are morally required to export this excellence, and at what cost to us if we attempt it? And Obama says, we may be the best country in the world, but let’s be thankful for that, let our nation’s public face be one of humilty and magnanimity.
Both represent a restoration of faith, a clean break – though there’s a danger in investing too much faith in the idea that politicians can bring about this kind of sea change in the national outlook. I think, rather, that they exemplify the change that has already taken place in many people’s heads and hearts.
The Dish 