Happy Birthday, America! For over 200 years, you have been a leader in progress, liberty, knowledge, and growth. You have provided millions and millions with a place to pursue their dreams, and crawl out of poverty and build fortunes. In America, people of all religions, all cultures are tolerated like nowhere else in the world. In times of crisis, when terrible tyrannical regimes threatened it, you pushed back, America, and shoved these dictators back into the dustbin of history.
You see, there is a peculiarly “American” character. It is self-reliant, resilient, entrepreneurial, competitive and willing to take risks. This character, I believe, arises out of being populated by people that were not satisfied with the status quo—people that escaped suffocating systems and instead bet on their own resourcefulness. Our people, and all our organizations strive to be number one. We want to be on top. It is in our DNA. And we admire people that get there. Witness the 2 million people that turned out to say congratulations to the Chicago Blackhawks last month for winning the Stanley Cup. This inner drive, this competitive nature is one of the things that sets us apart as a people. Our history is littered with examples of individuals overcoming odds, seizing the initiative and doing great things from Thomas Edison, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates to the soldiers at Point Du Hoc and Valley Forge. We like winners. Even when we don’t end up on top, we aspire to, always.
But listen carefully to Obama and his spokespeople. That’s not what they are saying, and the message from this administration has been consistent—we no longer seek leadership. To Team Obama, we are absolutely ok with being number 2 or 3 or 4. There is something wrong with being numero uno.
Obama himself said in his infamous quote, “"I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism, and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism." So, we’re exceptional, just like everyone else.
You see, there is a peculiarly “American” character. It is self-reliant, resilient, entrepreneurial, competitive and willing to take risks. This character, I believe, arises out of being populated by people that were not satisfied with the status quo—people that escaped suffocating systems and instead bet on their own resourcefulness. Our people, and all our organizations strive to be number one. We want to be on top. It is in our DNA. And we admire people that get there. Witness the 2 million people that turned out to say congratulations to the Chicago Blackhawks last month for winning the Stanley Cup. This inner drive, this competitive nature is one of the things that sets us apart as a people. Our history is littered with examples of individuals overcoming odds, seizing the initiative and doing great things from Thomas Edison, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates to the soldiers at Point Du Hoc and Valley Forge. We like winners. Even when we don’t end up on top, we aspire to, always.
But listen carefully to Obama and his spokespeople. That’s not what they are saying, and the message from this administration has been consistent—we no longer seek leadership. To Team Obama, we are absolutely ok with being number 2 or 3 or 4. There is something wrong with being numero uno.
Obama himself said in his infamous quote, “"I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism, and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism." So, we’re exceptional, just like everyone else.
That’s thinking like a winner.
John Holdren, Obama’s science czar said a few weeks ago, “The U.S. can’t be expected to be number one in everything indefinitely.”
John Holdren, Obama’s science czar said a few weeks ago, “The U.S. can’t be expected to be number one in everything indefinitely.”
Gee, that’s inspiring.
Or how about Tim Geithner’s statement just last week, “America can no longer drive global growth."?
Or how about Tim Geithner’s statement just last week, “America can no longer drive global growth."?
That's visionary.
This is all just appalling and at variance with what America is all about. In my way of thinking, if you aspire to be an also-ran, that’s where you end up. I can’t imagine any CEO of any company announcing in its annual report, “We’re in an environment with lots of able competitors. We can’t be expected to be number one in our market all the time. It’s just not realistic.” The board of directors would summarily show him the door. There wouldn’t be second thought about it. And a heave-ho would be well-deserved.
But this is the mindset of the current Democratic leadership in Washington, and is troubles me greatly. The message is consistent across all agencies—America can no longer be number one, not in business and the economy, not in science, not in promoting liberty.
We should not tolerate leaders that say such things. Sure, we have obstacles to overcome. But we have great strengths as a nation. We have an economic system that, at core, is vibrant and strong. We have by far the greatest university system in the world. We have the strongest and most professional military in the world. We have paved the way for millions to throw off the yoke of tyranny and lead a better life.
And the faster we throw these guys out of office and replace them with leaders that expect great things from us and from themselves, the faster we will get back on track as a nation. That's leadership. We're the greatest nation on the planet. Don't let these guys tell you otherwise.
This is all just appalling and at variance with what America is all about. In my way of thinking, if you aspire to be an also-ran, that’s where you end up. I can’t imagine any CEO of any company announcing in its annual report, “We’re in an environment with lots of able competitors. We can’t be expected to be number one in our market all the time. It’s just not realistic.” The board of directors would summarily show him the door. There wouldn’t be second thought about it. And a heave-ho would be well-deserved.
But this is the mindset of the current Democratic leadership in Washington, and is troubles me greatly. The message is consistent across all agencies—America can no longer be number one, not in business and the economy, not in science, not in promoting liberty.
We should not tolerate leaders that say such things. Sure, we have obstacles to overcome. But we have great strengths as a nation. We have an economic system that, at core, is vibrant and strong. We have by far the greatest university system in the world. We have the strongest and most professional military in the world. We have paved the way for millions to throw off the yoke of tyranny and lead a better life.
And the faster we throw these guys out of office and replace them with leaders that expect great things from us and from themselves, the faster we will get back on track as a nation. That's leadership. We're the greatest nation on the planet. Don't let these guys tell you otherwise.
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