From a shining city on a hill and Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall, to terrible deeds in the name of Christ and terrorists' legitimate grievances.
The chasm between Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama when it comes to their views of America and the world could hardly be wider. But on today's Up With Steve Kornacki, when the host asked the Washington Post's Jonathan Capehart whether President Obama talks and thinks about America differently from Reagan [and Clinton and Carter], Capehart emphatically replied "No. Rudy Giuliani is lying."
Is there any way Capehart possibly believes this? Can he really look at Barack Obama and sincerely say: there walks a man who loves America like Ronald Reagan did?
The only evidence Capehart offered in support of his assertion as to President Obama's love of America is that for years Obama has been saying that only in America is his story possible. That isn't patriotism—it's solipsism.
STEVE KORNACKI: Jonathan, let me start with you. Obviously, extremely inflammatory, the way that Rudy Giuliani brought this up this week, and that is sort of from a political standpoint, that's the beginning and the end of this. It's tough to win an argument when you start with does the president love the country or not? But when he starts defending himself and he starts trying to explain what he's saying, he's saying basically it seems at the heart of this, that he thinks President Obama thinks about, looks at and talks about America in a way that is different than past presidents, Reagan, Clinton, Carter he names there. Do you think there's anything to that, the idea that he talks and thinks about America differently than previous presidents have?
JONATHAN CAPEHART: No. Rudy Giuliani is lying. And anyone who's been paying attention to Barack Obama since he wowed the Democratic convention in 2004 knows how much the president loves this country. From the moment he ripped into our consciousness during that speech, he made it clear that only in America could his story be possible. He's been saying that since he's been president.
