Sen. Menendez reacts to Putin's op-ed: I wanted to vomit

[ProSense]

Sen. Menendez reacts to Putin's op-ed: I wanted to vomit

The night before a high stakes diplomatic meeting in Geneva, where Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart will talk over a plan for stripping Syria of chemical weapons, The New York Times published an op-ed by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

<...>

"I would rather disagree with a case he made on American exceptionalism, stating that the United States' policy is "what makes America different. It's what makes us exceptional." It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation," Putin wrote.

Democratic Senator Robert Menendez, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said he first heard of and read Putin's op-ed while he was at dinner. He had a visceral reaction.

"I almost wanted to vomit," said Menendez. "I worry when someone who came up through the KGB tells us what is in our national interests, and what is not. It really raises the question of how serious the Russian proposal is."

- more -

http://thelead.blogs.cnn.com/2013/09/11/sen-menendez-reacts-to-putins-op-ed-i-wanted-to-vomit/

[NYC_SKP]

1. Oh Snap!

[sheshe2]

4. !!!

[ProSense]

6. I just read a comment that referred to Putin as a

concern troll!

[Pretzel_Warrior]

2. Putin better get busy on those CW or the missiles will fly

Be a man of your word, Putin. Don't play games.

[orenbus]

3. o ya?

[ProSense]

5. Welcome to DU. Let's hope

it wasn't in Rand's hair.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023642036#post29

[roody]

7. Obama lost me with the exceptional

crap also.

[ProSense]

8. Putin mischaracterized it, and clearly doesn't understand what it means.

From the President's speech:

Franklin Roosevelt once said, “Our national determination to keep free of foreign wars and foreign entanglements cannot prevent us from feeling deep concern when ideals and principles that we have cherished are challenged.” Our ideals and principles, as well as our national security, are at stake in Syria, along with our leadership of a world where we seek to ensure that the worst weapons will never be used.

America is not the world’s policeman. Terrible things happen across the globe, and it is beyond our means to right every wrong. But when, with modest effort and risk, we can stop children from being gassed to death, and thereby make our own children safer over the long run, I believe we should act. That’s what makes America different. That’s what makes us exceptional. With humility, but with resolve, let us never lose sight of that essential truth.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023642111

[avaistheone1]

9. He lost a lot people with that expression. Exceptionalism is part of the Bush doctrine.

I think Rania Masri a human rights activist and environmental scientist got it right in responding to the president's address.

Rania is Rania Masri is an Arab American human rights activist, environmental scientist, university professor, and writer. Since 2005, she has been an Chair of the Environmental Sciences Department at the University of Balamand in Lebanon. Before then, Rania directed the Southern Peace Research And Education Center at the Institute for Southern Studies in NC. She has been active against the wars on Iraq, Lebanon, and, now, Syria. Since May, she has been giving a series of talks about US involvement in Syria. She has been representing a growing coalition of NC social justice organizations against the war.

.Snip
But nevertheless, there is this desire that is perpetuated by the mainstream media and accepted by too many Americans that we are exceptional in our morality and in our legitimacy and in our desire to do good. And, unfortunately, the words of Martin Luther King still hold true today. The United States does remain the greatest purveyor of violence in the world…Snip

.Snip
As for the quotes that you highlighted from President Obama, again, I mean, they're ahistoric. They're extraordinarily naive. And I long for the day when the vast majority of Americans will recognize the fallacies in those statements. We can only be exceptional as a country if we truly live according to the values of our constitution, all our constitution, inclusive of the amendments, of course, and recognize that exceptionalism can only be obtained through morality, through legality, through legitimacy, and not through hypocrisy and not through violence…Snip

http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=10703

[SunSeeker]

10. Obama is not using the term the way Bush did.

Obama did not say Americans' are innately exceptional individuals, either morally or any other personal trait, or that we have some special right to police the world. In fact, he denied we are the world's police. Obama is not using the term "exceptionalism" to mean the same thing alluded to by Republicans when they use that term. What I understood Obama to be referring to is our exceptional ABILITY to make a difference. As the world's only superpower, that is a statement of fact.

[Scurrilous]

11. LOL

[sagat]

12. Awesome. Here's another fine one: