American exceptionalism

'American exceptionalism' is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville in his Democracy in America.
 

De Tocqueville was a Frenchman who traveled the US in the 1830s, and was impressed by its equitable society (there weren't many, if any, democracies in the world at that time).
 

American exceptionalism referred to the belief that the US was different, perhaps superior, to other countries, because of its history, its geography, its politics, its culture, its resources and its resourcefulness, etc.
 

American exceptionalism is not just an academic idea; even ordinary Americans believe it. However, at no time has it intersected with the history of race in America. To put it another way, American exceptionalism is a 'White' belief. Arguably, for much of the white American community, it is an idea that has evolved because of them, and that can develop only with the 'Whites' — but not with a 'Black', even one as "exceptional" as Obama.
 

At a baser level, race evokes a dislike and/or visceral fear in many white Americans. The latest The New York Review of Books has an article, "Obama: The Price of Being Black", which mentions several factors at work against Obama. The new requirement in some states that voters carry government issued photo-ID works against African-Americans. That some states will put a 'civil rights initiative' on the ballot, reminds many voters of the race of the candidates.
 

Then there is the "Bradley effect": in 1982, Tom Bradley led all polls in his race to be Los Angeles mayor. He lost. In 1989, David Dinkins ran for New York mayor, and led polls by 18 points; he won by two. The same year, Douglas Wilder was projected to win the race for Governor of Virginia by nine points; he won by half a point. When it comes to polls, respondents seem to answer questions of race more liberally than how they would vote. Going into the conventions, most polls had Obama and McCain running neck-and-neck.
 

Logically, electing Obama would only prove American exceptionalism in its truer sense, and not in its strict 'Anglo-Saxon' sense.
 

But 9/11 proved that for the 'City on the Hill' (the metaphor for America by its Puritan settlers), the "barbarians are at the gates". As November 4 approaches, if Obama continues to rely on his rock star magnetism rather than his wits, fear may very well overtake the yearning for change in America.
 

Obama might even lose. And if he does, it would mark the beginning of the end of American exceptionalism.


 

This article is from an op-ed piece "It's still in black and white" in the 06 Sep 2008 edition of The New Indian Express. The writer, Aditya Sinha, is its Editor-in Chief and is based in Chennai, India. I have lightly edited it and provided hyperlinks.