How does the US view the rest of the world? (The Presidential Debates and American exceptionalism)

Watch about two seconds of any presidential debate and you’ll understand just how much America loves its exceptionalism. Mitt Romney and Barack Obama, who are in theory supposed to represent America and its views, never pass up an opportunity to praise America, emphasize its exceptionalism, and propose the ways it can live up to its exceptionalism better under them. They say what Americans want to hear. “Great” and “strong” are words that come up as often as subtle insults at the other candidate. Similarily, the way the candidates view America complements the way that they, and the rest of America, view the rest of the world. The third presidential debate, which was about foreign policy, was filled with implications of American exceptionalism as the candidates debated. It was clear that one thing the candidates would never disagree on was that America is exceptional and we should view the rest of the world with this fact in mind.

One of the parts of the debate where America’s worldview was most clear was during the China discussion. In the discussion, what seemed to unsettle the candidates more than the economic threat of China was America’s possible loss of world dominance. Of course, the candidates simply reenforced American exceptionalism in their arguments, but the whole reason China had a whole section to itself in the debate was because of China’s position. China is viewed as a threat to the United States mostly because it challenges the idea of American exceptionalism. If another, larger, more productive country is suddenly taking over the world’s economy and you don’t want another country to be number 1, what do you do? This challenge to American exceptionalism is given almost equal weight in the debates to things such as wars, terrorism, and our role in the revolutions of other countries; because of this, it shows just how near and dear American exceptionalism is to the hearts of Americans and it shows how Americans view the world from this viewpoint.
In another section of the debate, the candidates discussed the Middle East, the Arab Spring, and the role that America should play in the wars in places like Syria. Though the candidates differed on the roles they thought America should play in these places, they both agreed that America should be strong. They also agreed that America should develop the economies and systems of the countries, and America’s duty is to spread democracy. Also, Romney scoffed at the fact that Obama put off action against Syria to the UN. This shows some of the American views of the rest of the world, because Romney, who technically represents about half of America, considered the US as better than the UN in acting against Assad in Syria. Or as Romney said, “we should be playing the leadership role there”. The fact that intervening in foreign countries at all was part of the debate (it probably would not have been if we were, say, Luxembourg) shows the opinion of America by Americans as an example, a helper, and a guide to the rest of the world. Americans view the rest of the world as the guidees, in need of strong American leadership. The general thread of thought in this section of the debate was America must be strong; the world needs a strong America.

At least in the ideally patriotic America that the candidates refer to during the debate, exceptionalism is a huge piece of its identity. Because the candidates cater to American exceptionalism, it is clear that Americans view their country as something that should be strong, dominant, and helpful to the rest of the world. By choosing this view of America, the candidates imply that the rest of the world is something that must be helped along by the could-be-more-shining (if the economy was better) example of the USA. America views the rest of the world through the lens of American exceptionalism.

(edited 10/28)