Biden says rule of law distinguishes America at justices conference

Posted: 12:24 pm Mon, January 30, 2012
By Associated Press

WILMINGTON, Del. — Seizing on a theme sounded by Republican presidential candidates, Vice President Joe Biden said Monday that he, too, believes in American exceptionalism, and that it is demonstrated no better than in the country’s adherence to the rule of law.

Speaking at a meeting of the Conference of Chief Justices, an association of top-ranking judicial officers from all 50 states, Biden said the rule of law is what sets America apart not just from fledgling democracies in the Middle East and former republics of the Soviet Union, but from many other Western countries as well.

Biden noted that he has logged close to 470,000 miles in travel as vice president and took many trips abroad during his long Senate career as well.

“The more I travel, the more I’ve learned, the more convinced I have become that this thing that we call American exceptionalism, which is controversial in the minds of some intellectuals and others, that this thing called American exceptionalism does exist,” he said. “It’s particularly found in one overarching area — in our deep commitment to the rule of law, in our courts. That’s the truly exceptional and distinguishing aspect of American democracy.”

Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich have frequently criticized President Barack Obama for what they perceive as an unwillingness to embrace the uniqueness of America.

When asked in 2009 whether he subscribed to the concept, Obama replied that he believed in American exceptionalism, “just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism.”

Republicans have seized on such remarks and tried to portray Obama as ambivalent about his own country’s promise.

“We have a president right now who thinks America’s just another nation. America is an exceptional nation,” Romney said during a debate last year in Las Vegas.

Gingrich, author of a book entitled “A Nation Like No Other,” has made American exceptionalism a centerpiece of his campaign.

But the administration has been fighting back recently.

“Anyone who tells you that America is in decline or that our influence has waned, doesn’t know what they’re talking about,” Obama said in his State of the Union speech last week. “… Yes, the world is changing; no, we can’t control every event. But America remains the one indispensable nation in world affairs— and as long as I’m president, I intend to keep it that way.”

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus sounded a similarly confident note at the christening of a new submarine in Connecticut last month.

“When you look at the ship, you know American exceptionalism will not only survive, it will prevail,” Mabus said.

From Biden’s perspective, however, America’s special status lies in a judicial system that ensures that everyone gets a fair shake and the ability to be heard.

“Not a single nation in the world puts as much faith in the common sense and decency of its people as the United States of America,” he said.

Biden said that until they embrace the rule of law, ensuring that businesses can protect their intellectual property, governments are transparent and accountable, and citizens are free to speak their minds, other countries, including Russia and China, will never realize their full potential.

“I respectfully assert that the United States remains the land of innovation … because we cultivate and protect, rather than prosecute or persecute people who think differently,” he added.