Director Richard Donner Said Superman Challenged His Own Ideas on America

What do you think Richard Donner meant?

He's a lot of what America was a long time ago. I'm a very liberal human being in my philosophies and my politics, and I find myself, in an odd sort of way, looking and respecting the conservative attitude of what Superman stands for now. Because I think I see a lot of my philosophies in application now and I'm not very happy with them, and I almost wish I could go back to once was, and what America once was."