This morning on Meet the Press, host David Gregory, fresh off his recent law-breaking crusade, had the following exchange with President Obama:
NBC host David Gregory asked President Barack Obama this morning, "Is this your Lincoln moment?"
The question came up after Obama invoked the movie Lincoln when talking about Republicans and Democrats coming together to work out a deal on the "fiscal cliff.
"Well, no," Obama said in response to Gregory's question. "Look, a) I never compare myself to Lincoln. And b) obviously the magnitude of the issues is quite different from the Civil War and slavery. The point, though, is democracy has always been messy. We're a big diverse country that is constantly sort of arguing about all kinds of stuff. But eventually, we do the right thing." (Emphasis mine.)
Now, on its face, the bolded portion is a ridiculous claim. Take a look at an excerpt from a speech he delivered in late 2007 -- in Springfield, Ill. no less -- when he announced his candidacy for president:
By ourselves, this change will not happen. Divided, we are bound to fail.
But the life of a tall, gangly, self-made Springfield lawyer tells us that a different future is possible.
He tells us that there is power in words.
He tells us that there is power in conviction.
That beneath all the differences of race and region, faith and station, we are one people.
He tells us that there is power in hope.
As Lincoln organized the forces arrayed against slavery, he was heard to say this: "Of strange, discordant, and even hostile elements, we gathered from the four winds, and formed and fought to battle through."
That is our purpose here today.
That is why I'm in this race.
Not just to hold an office, but to gather with you to transform a nation.
I want to win that next battle — for justice and opportunity.
I want to win that next battle — for better schools, and better jobs, and better health care for all.
I want us to take up the unfinished business of perfecting our union, and building a better America.
At the time of the speech, Jake Tapper noted that the crowd "allowed Obama to immodestly and continuously compare himself to Lincoln."
Prior to 2007, then-Senator Obama recounted the similarities between himself and Lincoln in an article published in Time magazine in June of 2005. Here is a relevant excerpt:
What is it about this man that can move us so profoundly? Some of it has to do with Lincoln's humble beginnings, which often speak to our own. When I moved to Illinois 20 years ago to work as a community organizer, I had no money in my pockets and didn't know a single soul. During my first six years in the state legislature, Democrats were in the minority, and I couldn't get a bill heard, much less passed. In my first race for Congress, I had my head handed to me. So when I, a black man with a funny name, born in Hawaii of a father from Kenya and a mother from Kansas, announced my candidacy for the U.S. Senate, it was hard to imagine a less likely scenario than that I would win--except, perhaps, for the one that allowed a child born in the backwoods of Kentucky with less than a year of formal education to end up as Illinois' greatest citizen and our nation's greatest President.
And another very illuminating section:
In Lincoln's rise from poverty, his ultimate mastery of language and law, his capacity to overcome personal loss and remain determined in the face of repeated defeat--in all this, he reminded me not just of my own struggles. He also reminded me of a larger, fundamental element of American life--the enduring belief that we can constantly remake ourselves to fit our larger dreams. (Emphasis mine.)
Lincoln's life reminded him of his own. Very humble.
Also, read the answer Obama gave during a 2011 town hall meeting to a question regarding how he deals with congressional push-back from the GOP:
“Democracy is always a messy business in a big country like this,” Obama responded. “When you listen to what the federalists said about the anti-federalists … those guys were tough. Lincoln, they used to talk about him almost as bad as they talk about me.”
If Obama's detractors called him the same names that were constantly hurled at Lincoln, MSNBC commentators wouldn't simply be complaining about supposed dog whistle-racism.
But to simply recount the myriad ways in which Obama has compared himself to Lincoln isn't enough. As Charles Kesler has noted, a careful reading of Obama should leave the reader convinced that Obama sees himself like the sixteenth president but only a better version of the Great Emancipator.
So Obama really does see himself as another Lincoln but only better.
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