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 5:16 pm
Nobody says it wasn’t about slavery, but it wasn’t ALL about slavery. But there’s no convincing those who think education ended with a high school or college diploma.
January 14, 2009 at 5:30 pm
But there’s no convincing those who think education ended with a high school or college diploma.
As a Ph.D, with a concentration in American government, I am sure that wasn’t addressed to me. But I guess there’s no convincing people who thinking reading a book or two on a complicated topic renders on an expert.
Read Woods then if you don’t like Dilorenzo.
Yeah, he’s awful too, at least on this topic.
January 14, 2009 at 5:37 pm
Not directed to you at all. My point was that education continues past the HS/College years.
Everyone has their opinion and you’ve obviously bit into the “winner writes history” apple.
January 14, 2009 at 5:46 pm
Everyone has their opinion and you’ve obviously bit into the “winner writes history” apple.
Or I’ve bitten into the “I’ve actually studied the issue and don’t take my marching orders from paleocons who have a tenuous-at-best grasp on American history” apple.
Whatever floats your boat.
January 14, 2009 at 5:52 pm
you forgot to use the “troglodyte”…I thought all PhD’s knew that one.
by the way, you didn’t follow your sanctimonious post about no commenting and that we “unwashed” should merely read your original post.
The Confederacy may have lost that war, but this Southerner has got under some Yankee’s skin.
you’re getting muddy doc…
January 14, 2009 at 6:00 pm
If Lincoln was “anti-slavery” then why did he support a Constitutional amendment (the Corwin Amendment) that would have made Southern slavery irrevocable? He opposed the expansion of slavery, but he was not an abolitionist.
By the way, if one doesn’t like DiLorenzo or Woods then one can always go straight to the source and read Jefferson Davis.
January 14, 2009 at 6:48 pm
I must admit that I half expected an argument about Obama after writing this post. I didn’t foresee an argument about Lincoln.
January 14, 2009 at 7:21 pm
The wounds of the South still run deep. My mom still calls anyone with northern license plates as “da*n yankees” and means it. (she is only in her 50s)
January 14, 2009 at 9:11 pm
“I must admit that I half expected an argument about Obama after writing this post. I didn’t foresee an argument about Lincoln.”
Apparently, we’ll have to wait 170+ years. At which point, for us, it will most likely be moot.
January 15, 2009 at 3:05 am
Obviously not many have read the true history of unbaptized Mr. Lincoln. I suggest Thomas DILorenzo’s “The Real Lincoln”. Then you may see some similarities between them and it ain’t pretty..
people continue to elevate him to as a great statesman, but he got the country into an unnecessary war, and he never cared about slavery.. are people’s rights if they opposed his.
January 17, 2009 at 2:21 am
In my opinion, it’s not that Obama has “bought into” press comparisons between Lincoln and himself, he STARTED the comparisons and continues to foster them. All those trips from Chicago to Springfield, the speechifying with frequent references to Lincoln, the family visit to the Lincoln Memorial (complete with photographers snapping away)…there are numerous examples.
What better way to reinforce your historical moment as the nation’s first black president than by purporting to assume the mantle of a past president who has been practically deified and whose most famous accomplishment was ending slavery in America?
Yeah it’s creepy. And it’s even creepier because Obama is a master of self promotion. Nothing he says or does is accidental. Expediency is his middle name!
I’m ready to give The One a chance to rise and fall on his OWN accomplishments (which haven’t started yet, community organizing notwithstanding!) BUT…I have a feeling it’s going to be a long four (maybe eight) years.
January 18, 2009 at 12:09 am
4 years of Lent, here we go…
January 18, 2009 at 4:43 pm
Oh Joe, you have such a way with words! 🙂
January 20, 2009 at 2:01 pm
This is downright offensive. And #7…seriously? The racism that still exists in this country disgusts me. You people should be ashamed of yourselves. This country will never get better if we can’t work together…and things like this just further separate us.