Subject: HRC and American Exceptionalism
From: Brent Budowsky <[email-masked]>
To: John Podesta <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 4 Jun 2015 06:39:53 -0400

I will write about the following soon but would encourage HRC to use this first:

In the Washington Post story about Obama and American Exceptionalism, the Post
quotes a Jeb Bush speech on the subject saying that since the Second World War
American leadership helped hundreds of millions of people escape poverty and
repression, and only America can make this claim.  Who is Jeb Bush praising?  He
is praising liberal Democratic iconic presidents Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman,
John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson.  It was their Marshall Plan that stabilized
Europe and helped Europeans lift themselves out of post-war poverty, and it was
JFK and  LBJ with their New Frontier and Great Society that lifted Americans out
of poverty.....not Nixon, Reagan, or George W. Bush!

And I would add: when the Declaration of Independence was signed blacks were
slaves and women could not vote.  It is praise for America, not criticism, to note
that what makes American exceptionalism so exceptional is that the vision is always
growing, widening and expanding to ultimately include every American and those
who champion human rights around the world.......Brent

Sent from my iPad