Clinton Blasts Trump on 'American Exceptionalism,' Fails to Mention Where Obama Once Stood on the Issue

Hillary Clinton on Tuesday took aim at Donald Trump for agreeing with Russian President Vladimir Putin when it comes to American exceptionalism.

The Democratic presidential nominee, in a speech before the American Legion in Cincinnati, recalled what her Republican rival has stated:

My opponent in this race has said very clearly that he thinks American exceptionalism is insulting to the rest of the world. In fact, when Vladimir Putin, of all people, criticized American exceptionalism, my opponent agreed with him, saying, "If you're in Russia, you don't want to hear that America is exceptional."

Well, maybe you don't want to hear it, but that doesn't mean it's not true.

Hillary Clinton says Trump "thinks American exceptionalism is insulting to the rest of the world." https://t.co/mGF9d51gYr

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) August 31, 2016

Trump has, indeed, said that he doesn't like the term "American exceptionalism." In April 2015, one month before the Manhattan billionaire announced that he was running for president, he explained his views at a Texas forum. "I don't think it's a very nice term. 'We're exceptional. You're not,'" Trump said at the time, adding that he would like the U.S. to "take everything back from the world that we've given them."

"On top of taking it back, I don't want to say we're exceptional," he continued. "Essentially you're saying we're more outstanding than you. By the way, you've been eating our lunch for the past 20 years, but we're more exceptional than you."

However, Clinton neglected to mention that President Barack Obama, her former boss, sounded a similar tune in 2009 when he said that he believes in American exceptionalism "just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism."

Five years later, Obama told an audience at West Point Military Academy, “I believe in American exceptionalism with every fiber of my being.”

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