You’re Out of Your League, Mr President

Mr President, you’re out of your league, and unfortunately, where you go we must go too, like that or not. Consider but one slice of Vladimir Putin’s op-ed at the New York Times: “My working and personal relationship with President Obama is marked by growing trust. I appreciate this. I carefully studied his address to the nation on Tuesday. And 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.” He’s disagreeing with your patriotic speech Tuesday night? Mr President, he has a point. Candidly speaking, this is not a side of you we’re used to hearing. I found it disingenuous. Mr Putin goes on: “It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation. There are big countries and small countries, rich and poor, those with long democratic traditions and those still finding their way to democracy. Their policies differ, too. We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord’s blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal.” He has you there, Mr President. Those of us who dearly love and believe in this country, remember cringing when you apologized for this country’s uniqueness, dismissing American exceptionalism by telling your foreign audiences that you believed in it “just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism, and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism.” Mr President, should Mr Putin invite you to a game of poker, decline the offer. And should you peradventure glance down a dark alley to see Vladimir Putin waiting, turn quickly, and walk in the opposite direction. You’re not in his league. Mr President, don’t get us into any fight you can’t handle.