PBS host Tavis Smiley is the latest mainstream media talking-head who just can’t bear the thought of American Exceptionalism:

I think not just for Republicans, I think that this country is facing a seminal moment where we have to make a decision about what kind of nation and what kind of people we’re going to be. The President recently, much to my chagrin, spoke of, advanced once again, this notion of American Exceptionalism, and clearly he isn’t the only one in town who likes to push that notion that we as Americans are exceptional. The reality is that this week alone gives us all the evidence we need to push back, to question  that particular claim. When Republicans want to shut down the government over political posturing, when you can kill innocent children at Sandy Hook and there’s no real gun control debate, those who we are supposed to protect, our babies, now you can fire indiscriminately on those who protect us, and nobody at this table believes that a real gun control debate is going to come out because all this other stuff is gonna push it to the side. … Very quickly: If we don’t course-correct soon, we are going to lose our democracy. It’s that serious.

Memo to Smiley: Our inalienable rights are what make America exceptional.