Obama Needs A Remedial History Course

                                                                   

In 2009, just weeks after taking office, Barack Obama flew over to Stockholm Sweden, picked up his Nobel Peace Prize (apparently only for being elected for the color of his skin), then flew down to Cairo, Egypt to address the Egyptian Parliament. Obama stood on the podium that day and said "American Exceptionalism" is a myth perpetuated by a militant American populace too fond of war.

I'm told Barack Obama is a smart guy....my liberal friends all tell me that. But, I wonder if he studied any history. If he had he would have learned that America waited until the very last minute to join the allies in World War I. Europe, in their latest brawl, had been warring with each other for centuries and WWI had been going on for three years before America entered it...and finished off the aggressors.

In World War II, the Axis and the Allies had been at it for more than five years before America got involved. Not until the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor would we get involved, forced into war by enemy aggression. When we finally entered the war Winston Churchill was ebullient as he remarked "America is with us and we'll finally win this thing".

America fond of war? 

America was crucial to victory in both World War I and World War II. And, had Obama read his history, he might have been surprised to learn that, unlike any world power in human history, we sought no territory. In fact, it was President Woodrow Wilson who imagined a League of Nations that might finally stop these world wars that cost so much in human treasure.

And maybe Obama should have read about the Marshall Plan, when America dedicated a substantial portion of our Gross Domestic Product for five full years to rebuild Europe. Or the billions we spent to rebuild Japan, the aggressor.

Or perhaps Obama might have visited the American Military Cemetery at Luxembourg where thousands of white crosses represent those who died for the cause of freedom....freedom for others, not ourselves!

                                                                

Yes, America did claim a tiny bit of foreign territory....those few acres of American graves in Normandy, or the thousands of pristine white crosses at the American Military Cemetery in Luxembourg.

I believe Obama needs a remedial history course...especially on American Exceptionalism.