海角大神

Who is Vladimir Putin to tell Americans they鈥檙e not exceptional?

That was a general, bipartisan reaction in the nation鈥檚 capital and US politics in general on Friday to Russian President Putin鈥檚 controversial .

Putin鈥檚 piece was a lengthy argument against any US strike on Syria and against the general US practice of intervention overseas. Parts of the article were bluster, such as his assertion that it was Syrian rebels who carried out the alleged chemical weapons attack of Aug. 21, not the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad. Parts were unexceptional, in the sense that they repeated arguments made by domestic critics of a possible US military action in Syria.

But the words of Putin that really roiled the nation鈥檚 capital were at the end, tacked on in a manner that almost seemed an afterthought. They were a direct response to President Obama, who in his Tuesday night speech to the nation referred to America as 鈥渆xceptional鈥�.

鈥淚t is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional ... we must not forget that God created us equal,鈥� Putin wrote.

Game on, Vladimir.

First up was White House spokesman Jay Carney, who quickly defended the president鈥檚 exceptionalism assertion.

鈥�Russia offers a stark contrast that demonstrates why America is exceptional,鈥� said Mr. Carney. 鈥淯nlike Russia, the United States stands up for democratic values and human rights in our own country and around the world. And we believe that global security is advanced when children cannot be gassed to death by a dictator.鈥�

Members of Congress were quick to wave the exceptionalism flag. Sen. Rand Paul (R) of Kentucky, a presumed 2016 presidential hopeful, penned his own opinion piece for Time Magazine as to why the US is exceptional.

The US sense that it is different, , is rooted in the nation鈥檚 founding values and documents, particularly the Constitution. US constitutional checks and balances have been on full display in recent days, wrote the Kentucky senator, as President Obama has turned to Congress for a vote authorizing military action in Syria, which Paul opposes.

鈥淲hile Putin is correct that God created every human being as an equal in His eyes, clearly the results of each of our efforts on this earth, individually and collectively, are not equal,鈥� wrote Paul.

Many commentators pointed to the Constitution and guaranteed US rights as exceptional, noting almost without exception that in Russia those rights have proved fungible over the years.

In Russia, gays and lesbians face officially sanctioned discrimination and anti-Putin journalists risk dismissal, or worse. But in the US, the First Amendment guarantees free speech and a free press, noted the right-leaning web site .

鈥淲hich ultimately is why we鈥檙e OK with the President of Russia publishing an op-ed hating on American exceptionalism in an American newspaper,鈥� wrote Chris Deaton, Red Alert Politics managing editor.

To some extent, Putin鈥檚 jab at the US sense of itself may reflect Russia鈥檚 bitterness about its fall from superpower glory and America鈥檚 relative military and economic strength.

Russia鈥檚 鈥減olicy is, in many ways, a resentment-based policy. So if Obama embraces exceptionalism, he鈥檚 going to attack it,鈥� said Bloomberg View columnist Jeffrey Goldberg, .

The US has indeed done exceptional things, Mr. Goldberg argued.

鈥淲e defeated fascism and communism in a single century, that鈥檚 pretty exceptional,鈥� he told Tapper.

Broadly speaking, American exceptionalism is not a new phenomenon. US citizens have considered themselves uniquely favored since the beginning of the Republic.

During the nation鈥檚 early years, the US populations was generally young and fast-growing. Many citizens were freeholders or landowners, and enjoyed a high standard of living compared to Europe, writes the eminent US historian Gordon Wood in 鈥淓mpire of Liberty." Their sense of themselves as somehow purer than the Old World in a political sense was intense.

They may have lagged other nations in the fine arts but in agriculture, commerce, and government they felt themselves superior. 鈥淚n this respect, America is infinitely further removed from Barbarity, than Europe,鈥� wrote John Adams in 1780.

Fast forward to 1929. US communist leader Jay Lovestone reported to Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin that the American proletariat, generally individualist and middle class, wasn鈥檛 interested in a revolution of the workers.

Stalin responded by demanding an end to this 鈥渉eresy of American exceptionalism," and an expression was born, according to a history of the phrase

In the 1960s 鈥渆xceptionalism鈥� began to explicitly crop up in American political discourse as the Republican Party emphasized patriotism to win over a new crop of southern voters. But given continued US pride in the nation鈥檚 history and Constitution, this was one issue on which Democrats were determined to not be outflanked.

鈥淎merican exceptionalism, along with flag pins shining from one鈥檚 lapel, is one of the rare issues where Republicans and Democrats agree,鈥� wrote McCoy in 2012.

Thus, Putin hit a nerve. It鈥檚 not an accident that many US late night comedians focused on the Russian leader鈥檚 criticism of exceptionalism in their Thursday routines.

Putin must not get that America is a land of unique freedoms, and also unique sculptures of iconic musicians crafted entirely from foodstuffs, in a segment dubbed, "Vlad the insulter."

鈥淲hat part of 鈥榖utter Elvis鈥� do you not understand?鈥� said Mr. Stewart,