OK. Show of hands. Who thinks the obsession of comparing Barack Obama and Abraham Lincoln is getting a little creepy. It seems that now Obama’s bought into it. Here’s the latest from the NY Post:
In what will be a Lincoln-themed inauguration from top to bottom, Obama won’t only follow in the footsteps of the former president – he’ll also eat like him, it was announced yesterday.
Obama’s jampacked Abe-apalooza moved into high gear with an announcement from the Congressional Inaugural Committee that it will hold a luncheon next Tuesday following the swearing-in ceremony that’s modeled after foods Lincoln enjoyed.
OK. This is getting a lot creepy. So while the media compares the two, CMR will take this opportunity to contrast the 16th and 44th Presidents:
1) Lincoln persisted in fighting a war when many around him told him to seek a compromise.
Obama is Mr. Cut and Run.
2) Lincoln went to war with those who hated America.
Obama went to their church.
3) Lincoln believed in things like “a moral, a social and a political wrong,” and “the eternal struggle between these two principles — right and wrong.”
Obama thinks those questions are above his pay grade.
4) Abraham Lincoln believed in the principle that no human being should be considered the property of another.
Obama…not so much.
5) Lincoln was a Republican.
Obama is a Democrat. Duh!
6) Lincoln smoked tobacco.
Obama smoked tobacco…among other things???
7) Lincoln wore this hat:Obama wore this one:
8) Abe Lincoln’s wife was…unstable.
Obama’s wife? Come on. Do you really think I’m going there?
9) Lincoln is considered by many to be the “Savior of the Union.”
Obama considers himself to be just “The Savior.”
10) Lincoln wrote amazing speeches by candle light.
Obama delivers speeches amazingly well on a teleprompter.
11) Lincoln said: “Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves; and, under a just God, can not long retain it.”
Obama said, “I don’t want my daughter punished with a baby.”
12) Lincoln: “…I know that the Lord is always on the side of the right. But it is my constant anxiety and prayer that I and this nation should be on the Lord’s side.”
When asked what sin is Obama said, “Being out of alignment with my values.”
13) Lincoln picked Andrew Johnson as Vice President because was both a Southerner who remained loyal to the Union and a Democrat.
Obama picked Joe Biden because he was a Catholic from Pennsylvania.
14) Lincoln said: “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.”
Obama, on this, has proved Lincoln wrong. So far.
January 14, 2009 at 3:39 am
I can’t believe I might be first. I agree with you on most of this but I have to say to #5: If I remember my history right (and I’m reaching back about 17 years to Junior year of high school), both the current Republican and Democratic parties can trace their origins back to the Lincoln Republican party. There was a break in the Lincoln-era Republican party within a few years of his death. The Democratic Republicans splintered off from the Republicans and eventually came to be known simply as Democrats. Someone more knowledgeable than me might be able to fill in the blanks.
January 14, 2009 at 3:46 am
Whoo-hoo. Look at Ms. Smarty pants who knows everything about everything 😉
January 14, 2009 at 4:22 am
Here’s another comparison:
Lincoln’s image is on the penny
Obama’s policies might leave you with one.
January 14, 2009 at 10:15 am
both the current Republican and Democratic parties can trace their “origins back to the Lincoln Republican party. There was a break in the Lincoln-era Republican party within a few years of his death. The Democratic Republicans splintered off from the Republicans and eventually came to be known simply as Democrats. Someone more knowledgeable than me might be able to fill in the blanks”
I think this is incorrect
On a side note I expect there will be a CMR Civil war over point 2 🙂
January 14, 2009 at 12:00 pm
Lincoln destroyed the Constitution and the republic created by our founders. He also was directly responsible for the wholesale killing of thousands of innocent people in the south.
Obama will probably drive the final nail in the coffin. He will surely overseas the wholesale killing of innocents.
Lincoln was a racist and white supremist. He vowed to support the south’s right to own slaves (read the 1st Inaugural Address) and supported deportation of all African slaves to the Caribbean or Africa.
Obama is a post-birth supremacist, believing that the child in the womb has no protections.
Obama may be a racist, given his writings and “church’s” pastor.
I could go on, but I have to get my children off to school…this comparison game might be fun!
January 14, 2009 at 1:03 pm
This post perhaps should not have followed the post on Governor Jindal. I’m no fan of the President Elect but this falls near the mark of mud-slinging. Where’s the charity?
January 14, 2009 at 1:23 pm
MO Cap,
I’m sure the unborn are asking the same question.
God Bless,
Ryan
January 14, 2009 at 2:23 pm
Lincoln believed that “all men are created equal” and have “inalienable rights”, including the right to life. The President-elect does not believe that, as evidenced by his willingness to consign the unborn to death and inequality.
P.S. — Anonymous — you should read the recent book “Vindicating Lincoln”, which refutes the accusations you make against Lincoln’s character and record.
January 14, 2009 at 2:27 pm
#2 = a lie
The South fought for freedom and states rights, Lincoln was a filthy scoundral who wanted to carve a legacy for himself.
January 14, 2009 at 2:52 pm
I seem to remember an issue called slavery having something to do with the Civil War.
January 14, 2009 at 3:05 pm
Matthew, actually it’s Mrs. Smart Pants. Don’t feel bad. Everyone gets it wrong. 🙂
January 14, 2009 at 3:27 pm
Lincoln went to war with those who hated America.
That’s a disgraceful, insulting, slanderous, idiotic statement.
January 14, 2009 at 3:38 pm
I see that Mrs. Smart Pants is not so smart. James H is right. I was wrong (possibly Mr. Lynn was wrong, too). I will verify before I try to correct you again, Matthew.
And really, slandering Abraham Lincoln? Anonymously, no less? For shame.
January 14, 2009 at 3:43 pm
Don’t worry Amy. I too once thought I was wrong but I was mistaken.
January 14, 2009 at 3:48 pm
After declaring a national emergency, Lincoln suspended habeas corpus and imprisoned thousands who did not support or agree with him including members of the Maryland legislature.
Perhaps this is the part of Lincoln’s legacy that Obama wishes to emulate.
January 14, 2009 at 4:03 pm
All these anonymous comments remind me a little of the Onion story headlined, “South Postpones Rising Again for 135th Consecutive Year.”
Lincoln did plenty of high-handed things while fighting the Civil War, but he didn’t undermine or destroy the Republic. He was simply the man left holding the check after prior presidents and Congresses entirely mishandled the slavery issue from the 1830’s onward. It certainly was a federal rather than a states’ issue. Also, the Confederacy fired on Fort Sumter.
While in theory it sounds fine to say that a group of states has every right to disassociate itself from the Union, in practice there’s no end to where that can lead. What if several Bible Belt states decided that abortion was simply an intolerable evil and chose to secede? It’s certainly a valid enough cause, but do you think that the rest of the US would not do something to bring them back anyway? And then you’d have tax secessions, or minority/immigrants’ rights secessions, union secessions, what-have-you. Even if the cause is just, it is not wrong for the other side to try to preserve the Union by force if need be. It’s a vital check, without which it would be too easy to revolt against legitimate government for no reason at all.
January 14, 2009 at 4:17 pm
Hi,
I'm the first anonymous and refer all of you government-taught Lincoln worshippers to read: "The Real Lincoln" by Thomas Dilorenzo, "Lincoln Unmasked" by Thomas Woods (yes, the same good Catholic writer), and "Forced into Glory-Abraham Lincoln's White Dream" by Leron Bennett, Jr (a black African-American history scholar).
The "Civil" War (civil war is a fight over control of the government, the Confederacy legally seceded and was therefore illegally attacked by the US government) was NOT a fight about slavery, but of money and political power. The slave issue made northerners yawn, but once the south sought to follow the Constitution, which allowed new states to create their own form of government, the Radical Republicans (Whigs/Hamiltonians) saw their source of legislative control diminishing. Since Lincoln's party (a bastard child of the Hamiltonian system of centralized power) controlled the distribution of government wealth, they fought a war to keep control over congress. The major source of income to the federal government was tariffs, and most of the tariff money came from southern ports. The northern-controlled congress used these funds to improve infrastructure, and pay off supporters,..all in the north! Combine this robbery with tariff increases (to protect northern businesses), the southerners were faced with the following: increased prices of goods from the north/overseas, retaliatory punative tariffs from overseas for southern raw materials, and continued loss of power in the congress as the northern-led congress continued to pass legislation negatively affecting the south. In other words, the south was becoming a "vassal state" and despite pleas, debates, and threats, nothing was done. Once Buchanan signed another huge tariff increase, the die was cast. Lincoln's first Inaugural Address sought to assure the south of his support for slave laws and the protection of property rights (as aggregious as this is, but put this into perspective…slavery was/is an inefficient means of production and a dying institution–it was ended peacefully everywhere in the western hemisphere except in America). He even supported a constitutional amendment that would forever protect slavery. His writings and speeches about the supremacy of whites over all other races makes us cringe, yet none of the supporters of Lincoln acknowlege this. We are merely taught he was a benevolent martyr worthy of a temple at which to worship.
Truth be told, he was a conniving politician who sought power for his and his party's sake. The black slavery issue was only a useful tool to achieve his means. His focus was on "Saving the Union" at all costs. His letter to Horace Greely is telling: if he could save the union he would do so whether or not the slaves were freed. Yet none today think below the rhetoric to understand why any state would VOLUNTARILY enter a Union if the couldn't VOLUNTARILY leave! The Virginia debate on the constitution did focus on the voluntary nature of the union, and Jefferson & Madison wrote that states did indeed have the right to leave, not for minor issues, but for major ones…loss of power and a continued tyrannical government seemed to have fit the bill
Now we're 200 years from Lincoln's birthday and we are going to hear all the claptrap about him and how another Illinois lawyer worked his way up through poverty to get to the highest office in the land.
The comparisons are uncanny: both used the Illinois System to get ahead, they promised their powerful backers everything, they advocate the use of force to attain their ends: Lincoln killed thousands of innocent FELLOW CITIZENS, and Obama will preside over the same.
Lincoln used religion to his ends, constantly evoking God in speeches, yet he belonged to no church nor attended any services. Obama uses the protestant sect of his choice to further his agenda…you'll see, he'll pick a nice white conservative protestant "church" to join to show that the Wright issue is behind him. My fear is that he'll try to ingratiate himself with the Catholic Church and some fawning bishop will give him Communion.
The past is prologue, and I urge all of you Lincolnites to read and understand what Lincoln did to our country and be concerned about the next Illinois senator will bring.
January 14, 2009 at 4:50 pm
The Democratic Republicans splintered off from the Republicans and eventually came to be known simply as Democrats.
The Democratic party at a minimum traces its origins to Andrew Jackson, and arguably to Thomas Jefferson. The Republican party (forget your history books appellation of “Democratic-Republicans” – they were just the Republicans) of Jefferson were essentially unopposed by the time of Monroe. But the 1824 election tore apart the so-called unity, and by 1828 we see the genesis of the two-party system featuring Whigs (opponents of Jackson, led principally by Henry Clay) and Jackson’s Democrats. It’s a lot more complicated than that, but this is a combox fer cryin’ out loud. The Republicans did not really replace the Whigs, though most of the founding members of the GOP were northern Whigs.
As for the Lincoln-bashing stuff, all one has to do is mention the fraud DiLorenzo and I know the person making the argument is to be ignored.
January 14, 2009 at 5:01 pm
And because I have no intention of going back and forth in the comments all day about Lincoln, I simply submit my post from a month back as to why the “war had nothing to do with slavery” meme is simply idiotic.
January 14, 2009 at 5:14 pm
what? what? can’t hear what you said with your head buried in the ground.
Read Woods then if you don’t like Dilorenzo.
Sheesh.