This is a classic hard-liner misrepresentation of what American exceptionalism means:

Rather, the concept behind that phrase is simple: We are uniquely blessed, and we have no other option than to assume the superpower mantle [bold mine-DL]. If nothing else the Obama presidency has been an exercise in the left-wing fantasy that America need not be the world’s policeman. It turns out that, unless we want to live in a world of genocide, constant turmoil and economic disruption, we really do need to be that cop on the beat.

Conflating American exceptionalism with U.S. global hegemony and a global “policeman” role does a great disservice to the idea of American exceptionalism, which properly speaking has nothing to do with an activist U.S. role in the world. The phrase can properly refer to unique aspects of the American historical experience, or it can describe the special nature of our constitutional system, but it doesn’t have anything to do with U.S. military preeminence or superpower status. Nonetheless, it’s important to understand that this is what a lot of hawks mean when they use this phrase, which they have sought to co-opt and redefine over the last four or five years. When many hawks talk about protecting American exceptionalism, what they mean is preserving and increasing military power and the willingness to use it all over the world. While they may pretend that Obama doesn’t agree with them about this, the unfortunate truth is that he agrees with them much more than they would care to admit.