Is anybody ever embarrassed by this kind of rhetoric?
What’s the history of this “not who we are” cliche that has recently parasitized the brains of The Respectable? I only noticed it a few years ago.
Okay, the first time “not who we are” shows up on iSteve is way back in 2008 in an Obama speech on education or something:
This kind of America is morally unacceptable for our children. It’s economically untenable for our future. And it’s not who we are as a nation.
So, it’s an Obamaism. But “not who we are” didn’t appear on iSteve again until late 2015. It’s shown up 22 times since then. In the current year, saying “not who we are” is who we are.
