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This one is easy to explain away... If you're ranking countries on greatness, then you put America at the top. But then unfortunate things happen, like minority presidents and gay marriage and solar panels, so that makes America not quite as great, but still far better than everyone else. But if we could roll back the clock, maybe to some time before women's suffrage and the civil rights movement, that would make America return to the extra high standard that it's capable of achieving.
I think an important related aspect is that the 'unfortunate things' that happen make it only "not quite as great" but are definitely destined to make it "the worst". That way there's a sense of urgency that you wouldn't otherwise get from just "not quite as awesome as it could be, but still the best"