America as a shining drone upon a hill

America as a shining drone upon a hill: It was one of the great self-congratulatory speeches of our era - Barack Obama's counter-terrorism "tsar" John Brennan offering a full-throated defense of the administration's "covert" drone wars. His "shining drone upon a hill" speech, reflects the nature of American exceptionalism and the way it blinds us to ourselves, to how we actually look to the rest of the world. - Tom Engelhardt (May 14, '12)