“You Took It Out; You Put It Away.”

“You took it out; you put it away.” This response was the reason that I failed my maturity test and was not allowed to participate that year in the “Eye of the Tiger” Karate program. As a feisty 5-year-old, I had just learned that phrase in preschool in its intended rhetoric– to put away my toys after using them. As a result, I outright refused to put up the medicine ball like the Sensei politely had asked.

While this resolve is cute when it comes from a stubborn (yet ingenuous) child, it is ignorant when it comes from a more mature frame. In preschool, the lesson was responsibility. In the Karate studio, the lesson was graciousness.

For some reason, resoluteness is a highly regarded attribute in politics. Obama is repeatedly accused of being too soft, too professorial and too quick to apologize. In many cases, Obama’s apologies on the world stage are completely warranted and demonstrate an intellectual maturity.

Recently, in Cairo, Obama admitted that “the United States played a role in the overthrow of a democratically elected Iranian government” — that of Mohammed Mossadegh in 1953. In addition, at the United Nations he acknowledged that the United States had “dragged its feet” on climate change. However, intellectual maturity does not win elections. Personas win elections. Obama’s staff is now starting to accept this reality.

One reason Obama decided not to apologize to Pakistan for the deaths of 24 soldiers in a NATO airstrike along Pakistan’s border last month is that doing so would only fuel criticism against him. Since the dawn of “Manifest Destiny,” America has thrived on this image of always being the best and never having to apologize for being so. This patriotism is an integral part of our national image. Personally, I am so proud to be an American. However, with pride in hand, I am not afraid to engage in constructive discourse and to examine how America presents itself on the world stage.

Karl Rove expounds on the core of Obama’s publicity predicament:

“(he) ‘makes it seem as though there is moral equivalence between America and its adversaries.’ Mr. Bush divided the world into good and evil, our side and their side. Ronald Reagan did the same during the Cold War.”

There is a difference between external patriotism and internal strategy. Unfortunately, the fantastic PR of “Good ‘Ol American Boy” candidates and the intellectual prowess of “professorial” candidates like Obama are often mutually exclusive. As we look to 2012, America has to ask itself whether it wants to remain encapsulated in the bubble of American exceptionalism or accept that concessions must be made on the stage of world politics.

Obama did not take out the metaphorical medicine ball of America’s past transgressions; he is clearly more mature than a five-year-old and understands the value of graciousness. However, history can attest: in politics, a sucker–punch usually beats a controlled karate kick.

By: Leslie Horwicz

(Photo by U.S. Embassy, Jakatra under a Creative Commons license)