At every critical juncture in history this country has encountered

[bill for obama]

we have gotten it right and moved through it.

This is another such juncture - and it has been 60 plus years since the last one.

We will get it right in the end - as we always have gotten it right in the end.

This is about belief systems - we are the United States - last and best hope of humanity.

And stubborn and pigheaded and self-confident.

And we better get this right.

[marmar]

1. "last and best hope of humanity."

Sorry, but I call bullshit. .... It's that kind of arrogance that's gotten us into the mess we're in now.

[bill for obama]

2. Is that a fact - arrogance is it - I call bullshit.

[SummerGrace]

4. Actually it's the arrogance of

our current leadership that has us in this mess. Barack Obama said:

"So I reject the notion that the American moment has passed. I dismiss the cynics who say that this new century cannot be another when, in the words of President Franklin Roosevelt, we lead the world in battling immediate evils and promoting the ultimate good.

I still believe that America is the last, best hope of Earth. We just have to show the world why this is so. This President may occupy the White House, but for the last six years the position of leader of the free world has remained open. And it's time to fill that role once more."

[bill for obama]

6. Main reason I vote for him - I know he knows - and believes it.

[bhikkhu]

5. As far as "American Exceptionalism", yes, its not been working well lately

But the phrase itself is nothing to squabble over. I think we need to be our own best hope right now, and unless we square some things away here (torture and habeas corpus, for instance) the world would be better off playing follow some other leader.

on edit - Welcome to DU! And if you get unexpected flack, you might consider that you repeated one of Reagan's more famous lines as something we might rally around. He doesn't actually get a lot of mileage here...

[bill for obama]

9. Is that a fact -

When I went thru grad school - you were not supposed to judge anything - not moral conscience anyway. Not in war.

But of course you do - you can't help it.

Exceptionalism - when those shots were fired on the common in 1775 - they had no idea about linear tactics or anything - Parker's concept of military revolution, any of that- they fought for their homes. Their lives. Since then -we have always thought that way - and I do now. I don't give a rats ass about some latter day historians veiw - I want to know what really happened then - from Xenophon to this day.

No - we follow no one - they follow us - and they should. And god knows we saved their ass multiple times. You judge things within the context of the last 8 years - we have been around a lot more than that.



-

[bhikkhu]

10. "We follow no one - they follow us - and they should"

Give it a rest! Its the sort of thing that reasonable people find embarrassing in the morning.

We are all entitled to a bad night now and then, and I have engaged in unnecessary drama myself from time to time, but that's really over the top...

[bill for obama]

11. Is that so -

No drama - I believe it. Tomorrow, the next day, all my life - I believe it.

Until proven otherwise.

Maybe your right about some things - not this - not to me. I don't say anything I don't mean.

I make no apology for us - we did the best anyone could.

I appreciate your "out" given to me -I really do - but I meant what I said.

Thank you for the courtesy -you are a gentlemen/woman - and I see that clearly.

[bhikkhu]

12. Good enough, and peace.

One can hardly make a stand against good examples and leadership; we hope for the same thing.

Perhaps it is that I have been at this for 30 years and have watched too many of our idols fail, while gaining quite a bit of admiration for the strengths and good qualities of the rest of humanity.

In any case, and if we live in a fair world, the next four years will be test we are likely both looking forward to.

[magellan]

7. lol, I have to agree

What the hell have we done to deserve anything approaching that title? Nothing since WWII, and we didn't pull that off alone.

[bill for obama]

3. There were three times in our history where we really formed in

mass - and everytime -we demobilized. Everytime it happened the world held their breath.

Name any country that ever, in the history of the world, demobilized, voluntarily - in the face of such conquest. They don't exist.

We did. Three times.

I don't think we earned the right to claim our status - we earned it the hard way - over and over again - that is why I trust us. These last 8 years not withstanding.

[Muttocracy]

8. you're in a posting mood tonight, eh? :-) nt