Former vice president Dick Cheney and former deputy assistant secretary of state Liz Cheney tell the story of the unique role America has played as freedom's defender since World War II. They explain how presidents from Truman to Bush and from Roosevelt to Reagan safeguarded American power and pre-eminence. They reveal the damage done by President Obama's determination to diminish America's role in the world, and they show how America can and must lead again.
For seventy years, America has been an unmatched force for the defense of freedom, peace, and security around the globe. Republican and Democratic presidents alike have recognized that although this has cost us dearly, the cost of the alternative—a world in which America's adversaries lead—would be far higher. At a time of increasing threats to the nation, President Obama has abandoned this seventy-year bipartisan tradition. Working to diminish America's role in the world, he has abandoned America's allies, appeased our adversaries, and apologized for this great nation.
For more than four remarkable decades as a public servant, Dick Cheney has played a key role in shaping history. He is an unapologetic advocate for strong American leadership on the world stage. He has led in warning about the damage being caused by President Obama's national security policies, from the president's rollback of programs that kept us safe after 9/11 to his willingness to make concessions that ensure Iran will obtain a nuclear weapon.
In this provocative new book, Cheney and his daughter Liz, a renowned national security and Middle East policy expert, explore how Obama has drastically broken with the bipartisan foreign policy consensus that propelled America to victory in World War II, the Cold War, and the first decade of the War on Terror. Together they make a firm and compelling case that the president's unwillingness to safeguard American power has diminished our ability to adequately defend our nation, our allies, and our interests. The Cheneys do what no one before them has done: chart a path forward to restoring American strength, illuminating the steps necessary to defend against the growing threats to our nation, defeat militant Islam, rebuild the U.S. military, and preserve America's preeminence. For the 2016 election and beyond, Exceptional is a frank and much-needed touchstone, a guiding light that explains why America has been, and must continue to be, freedom's defender.
