Elif Okan
21 February 2017
American Foreign Policy
Obama and American Exceptionalism
Obama does believe in American Exceptionalism shown though how he thinks other countries should become democratic like how the Untied States is, others look to us and trying to be a role model to others.
There are two examples that really showed how much Obama supported having democracies in other countries. The first was when he sent an emissary to Egypt to tell/ explain to Mubarak that "in the judgment of the United States, he could not survive the protests. The emissary would tell Mubarak that his best option was to try to leave a positive legacy by steering the country toward a real democratic transformation.". This showed how Obama tried to spread democracy to other countries which is a big part of what American Exceptionalism is. Another example of when Obama showed that he wanted America to spread democracy to other countries was during "Obama’s speech in Cairo, delivered on June 4, 2009, and devoted to improving America’s relationship with the Muslim world, was organized as a list of regional priorities... He then gave a hesitant endorsement of America’s commitment to democracy in the region. He began, '… Let me be clear: no system of government can or should be imposed upon one nation by any other.'”. Even though he said not no one nation should force a system of government on another Obama still gave an endorsement of America’s commitment to democracy in the middle east/ Muslim world. Obama mostly believes in American Exceptionalism and wanted to help spread democracy believing that it would help the other countries.
When "Obama wanted to assure other autocratic allies that the U.S. did not hastily abandon its friends, and he feared that the uprising could spin out of control.", it shows how other countries look to the United States as an example and as a role model. Since others are looking to the United States, if the United States easily abandon their friends then it would set a bad example to other countries and more importantly it would be known right away and could affect how others see the United States. Even when trying to spread democracy, America is still well known and may counties look to the Unites States. As Obama said in 2007 “America must show—through deeds as well as words—that we stand with those who seek a better life. That child looking up at the helicopter must see America and feel hope.”. This shows how America is a role model as well to other countries and how they could look up to the Unites States by feeling hope when seeing America. Obama wants the children to feel hope when seeing America making it should like he thinks of, or at least wants, others to look at the United States as an example which is one of the main parts of American Exceptionalism.
Work Cited:
Ryan Lizza (2011), “The Consequentialist”, The New Yorker
Elif,
ReplyDeleteGood post, I really like how you ended it with Obama wanting "children to feel hope when seeing America."
I do agree that countries value our democracy and look to us as a role model, but as well as democracy I think that countries look to us for support and aid for crisis within their countries and the global community to give security through our values of freedom and democracy.
Like I said to Caitlin, I combined Obama having part of American exceptionalism with a realistic and egalitarian view to combine parts of all three.
Do you agree with the realistic and egalitarian views also that all nations are more equal due to their own countries exceptionalism? As well as that nations need collaboration to be stronger and solve issues because "we can't solve ... problems alone" (Farley 1).
What are your thoughts on does he think we've always been exceptional or that we are due to our history? In my post I said its due to our history and agreed with an article I read by Robert Farley.
Hi Elif,
ReplyDeleteI liked your post. Especially, when you talked about Obama wanting children to feel hope when seeing America. This quotation also struck me when reading the New Yorker article. I agree that Obama accepted America as a great leader and example for other countries but I do not think that he fully supported all aspects of American Exceptionalism like many Presidents before him did.
-Caitlin