Clinton's American exceptionalism puts a new twist on an old idea

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Abram Van Engen, Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis

(THE CONVERSATION) How does a belief in American exceptionalism shape foreign policy?

The views of the presidential candidates will likely be on display during a national security and military affairs forum hosted by the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America and NBC News this week. What may be most surprising is not what the candidates say, but the way in which they say it. Donald Trump dislikes the term “American exceptionalism” and refuses to use it. Hillary Clinton said in August, “If there’s one core belief that has guided and inspired me every step of the way, it is this: The United States is an exceptional nation.”

She is not the only Democrat making this profession of faith. Two years earlier, Obama declared, “I believe in American exceptionalism with every fiber of my being.”

This sort of language has historically been associated with Republicans, who added a belief in American exceptionalism to their 2012 party platform. Now, Ronald Reagan’s “shining city on a hill” is moving...