There is much talk these days of "American Exceptionalism." Does President Obama adequately espouse it, or even believe in it? The fact is—his Ivy education notwithstanding—he has probably never really considered it.
The Calvinist eschatology, introduced by the Puritans in the 17th century, perfectly stated by Jonathan Edwards in the 18th century and accepted as canonical by the end of the 19th century, is a highly nuanced idea that America is on a divine "errand" to usher in the millennial Kingdom of God.
In 1630, addressing Englishmen aboard the ship Arbella, John Winthrop warned his Puritan passengers to, "Consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill—the eyes of all people are upon us." They were on their way to establish “the Bible Commonwealth,” better known as the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
President-Elect John F. Kennedy resurrected the famous phrase during his Farewell Address to the General Court of Massachusetts, in which he stated that, "I have been guided by the standard John Winthrop set before his shipmates on the flagship Arbella three hundred and thirty-one years ago as they, too, faced the task of building a new government on a perilous frontier." In fact, this dramatic scene and the colonial history that followed provided the historical context for Kennedy’s entire "New Frontier" campaign.
Ronald Reagan spoke of the "Shining City on a Hill" at every whistle stop. Having learned it in Sunday School, the idea captured him and animated his entire presidency. He saw American as, "God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace...a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity."
In fact, every American President from George Washington to George W. Bush articulated America's singular mission in patently theological terms. Abraham Lincoln spoke of America as "God's almost chosen people—the last best hope for mankind."
Does Obama believe in American Exceptionalism? Let's just say that it wasn’t still taught at Harvard during his time there.
