By Steve Rhodes
Lincoln’s Birthday on Monday got me to thinking: Is he him yet?
Headline: What I See In Lincoln’s Eyes
Author: Barack Obama
Date: June 26, 2005
Excerpt: 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.
*
Headline: Maybe It’s Right Time For Obama To Run . . .
Author: Rich Miller, Sun-Times
Date: December 8, 2006
Excerpt: “The experience issue is less of a problem for me. Abraham Lincoln ‘s sole governmental experience was eight years in the Illinois House and just two years in Congress, yet he was one of our greatest presidents.
*
Headline: . . . But If He Does, He’d Better Be Ready To Face Nasty Opposition
Author: Andrew Greeley, Sun-Times
Date: December 8, 2006
Excerpt: “There are three reasons why he should not run.
“The first is that he has not had enough experience. One could reply by citing another citizen of Illinois who ran for president, another man of integrity, intelligence and honor whose experience was also mostly in the Illinois Legislature and a year in the House of Representatives. With two years in the Senate, Obama could boast more ‘experience’ than Abraham Lincoln.
*
Headline: Linking To Lincoln: Obama Campaign Dares To Make Most Of Parallels
Author: Jennifer Hunter, Sun-Times
Date: February 9, 2007
Excerpt: “There is no argument there are many compelling parallels between Honest Abe and Barack . . . By the time Lincoln left Springfield in 1860, he understood himself to be a man of destiny. And he knew he was going to be leading a fractious nation. As president, he was able to assemble a Cabinet of his rivals, using adroit political skills to win their cooperation. Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy explained that Lincoln ‘really was not a great general like Napoleon or Washington; he was not such a skillful statesman as Gladstone or Frederick the Great; but his supremacy expresses itself altogether in his peculiar moral power and in the greatness of his character.’
“Obama ‘s campaign strategists are suggesting he can bring the same moral authority and greatness of character to the White House. That takes daring . . . and hubris.”
*
Headline: Obama-Lincoln Comparisons Favor New Guy
Author: Eric Zorn, Tribune
Date: February 13, 2007
Excerpt: “Obama may be no Lincoln, but Lincoln was no Obama.”
*
Headline: Strong, Silent Type – He Was ‘Smart, Innovative, Relentless,’ And He Mostly Let Other Lawyers Do The Talking
Author: Abdon Pallasch, Sun-Times
Date: December 17, 2007
Excerpt: “In 1994, Obama went before the 7th Circuit to defend Ahmad Baravati, a trader blackballed by his bosses after he reported them for fraud.
“An arbitrator awarded Baravati $60,000 in damages plus $120,000 in punitive damages against the former bosses . . .
“‘I found he’s a very smart, innovative, skilled, relentless advocate for his client,’ Baravati said. ‘When I met him, he reminded me of Abraham Lincoln.'”
*
Headline: History Gives Honest Look At Fairy Tale
Author: Eric Zorn, Tribune
Date: January 17, 2008
Excerpt: “The whole thing, really, is a fairy tale.
“I mean, give me a break: The guy gives a good speech. Yes. Give him that. But are we electing a toastmaster or a president of the United States? Let’s look at his record to see what qualifies him for the highest office in the land:
“Eight years in the Illinois legislature? He was a party loyalist and a temporizer who too often put politics ahead of principle and was cautious rather than bold when it came to controversial issues.
“Two years in Washington? Yes, he pontificated about how he opposed the war, but at crunch time he voted to fund it. And his legislative record on Capitol Hill is thin.
“Other accomplishments? The enthusiasm for his candidacy was sparked by one big successful speech and is carried along by his gift for uplifting rhetoric.
“Consider, in contrast, the senator from New York who is his top rival for the nomination: A history in public life going back 30 years. Solid reform credentials. Clearly far more ready for the Oval Office than the younger, audacious Mr. Slim Silver-tongue from Illinois.
“They didn’t have blogs back in 1860, but if they did, you can bet that the pundits and partisans hoping to discredit Abraham Lincoln’s candidacy and bring his supporters down to earth would have posted something very much like the screed above.”
*
Headline: Hillary, Barack, Experience
Author: Nicholas Kristof, New York Times
Date: January 20, 2008
Excerpt: “With all the sniping from the Clinton camp about whether Barack Obama has enough experience to make a strong president, consider another presidential candidate who was far more of a novice. He had the gall to run for president even though he had served a single undistinguished term in the House of Representatives, before being hounded back to his district.
“That was Abraham Lincoln.”
*
Headline: Obama’s Support Grows Broader, New Poll Finds
Authors: Robin Toner and Dalia Sussman, New York Times
Date: February 26, 2008
Excerpt: ”He’s from Illinois, and I’m from Illinois, and he reminds me of Abraham Lincoln,” said Dylan Jones, 53, a laborer from Oxford, N.C., who was interviewed in a follow-up to the poll. ”I can see him out there splitting rails.”
*
Headline: Who Truly Has The Experience To Be . . . ?
Author: Leonard Pitts, appearing in the Tribune
Date: March 28, 2008
Excerpt: “Obama would hardly be the first president to come to office with little experience in national politics. Abraham Lincoln, like Obama, had eight years in Illinois state government and a few more in Congress.”
*
Headline: Brave Race Speeches Link Lincoln, Obama
Author: James Warren, Tribune
Date: April 14, 2008
Excerpt: “They each ran for president as Illinois lawyers of modest political experience, were linked to men with extreme views, opposed initially popular wars, and were unconventional in looks and demeanor. And, as the estimable Garry Wills notes in the May 1 New York Review of Books, Abraham Lincoln and Barack Obama are now connected by similar speeches on race.”
*
Headline: Does Experience Matter Anymore?
Author: Clarence Page, Tribune
Date: August 31, 2008
Excerpt: “Obama, a first-term senator, has more Washington experience than Abraham Lincoln, who took office after serving only one undistinguished term in the House.”
*
Headline: Obama/Lincoln Parallel Tough To Sell To Voters
Author: Laura Washington, Sun-Times
Date: September 22, 2008
Excerpt: “One who is feeling it is Richard Norton Smith, the distinguished American historian and founding director of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield. I reached out to Smith, now a scholar-in-residence at George Mason University, who regularly opines on presidential history for PBS’ Lehrer News Hour.
“‘I was a little surprised when you called,’ he told me. ‘I don’t sense any persistent effort to wrap Obama in the Lincoln mantle.'”
*
Headline: Lincoln Map A Winner For Obama?
Author: Abdon Pallasch, Sun-Times
Date: September 22, 2008
Excerpt: “The map hasn’t changed all that much in 148 years. But the political parties have switched places.
“The northeast part of the country, from Illinois to Maine – along with California and Oregon – likes the tall, skinny lawyer from Illinois.”
*
Headline: Obama For President
Author: Tribune editorial board
Date: October 19, 2008
Excerpt: “When Obama said at the 2004 Democratic Convention that we weren’t a nation of red states and blue states, he spoke of union the way Abraham Lincoln did.
“It may have seemed audacious for Obama to start his campaign in Springfield, invoking Lincoln. We think, given the opportunity to hold this nation’s most powerful office, he will prove it wasn’t so audacious after all.”
*
Headline: Call Him Eloquent Abe, The Writer in Chief
Author: Michiko Kakutani, New York Times
Date: November 7, 2008
Excerpt: “A former Illinois state legislator, with a short stint in Congress under his belt, comes to national prominence with speeches that showcase his eloquence. He is, according to the author of this new book, something of a cool customer: calm and graceful under pressure, ‘a difficult man to read, who loved jokes and stories’ but who was otherwise remarkably self-contained.
“This former lawyer runs as ‘a stoic moderate,’ embracing the virtues of ‘balance, temperance and restraint’; as a campaigner he emphasizes a reasoned ‘analysis of issues rather than personalities.’ His poetic gifts as a writer, shaped by a lifetime of avid reading, are matched by a lawyer’s appreciation of precision; his writings project ‘a persona of dignified but amiable authenticity,’ and do so with a ‘concision of phrasing and logical tightness.’ In his run for office he is criticized for being too inexperienced to be president and for failing to support the troops, because he’d questioned an American invasion of a country he claimed was ‘in no way molesting, or menacing the U.S.’ His vision of America is an optimistic one of reconciliation – to ‘help make strangers into neighbors,’ in the words of this biographer, ‘to create sympathy between regions and nations, and, by inference, between the North and South.’
“The man in question – and the subject of this fascinating new book – is Abraham Lincoln, not Barack Obama.”
*
Headline: Lincoln Helps Obama Win Office
Author: Christopher Wills, AP
Date: November 10, 2008
Excerpt: “Barack Obama should thank at least one Republican for helping him win the presidency. Abraham Lincoln played a small but vital role in helping the little-known candidate with the strange name win over millions of skeptical voters.
“Obama launched his campaign in front of the former Illinois capitol where Lincoln once served as a lawmaker. The tall, gangly, self-made lawyer not so subtly pointed out that the 16th president was also a tall, gangly, self-made lawyer. He spoke approvingly of Lincoln’s ‘team of rivals’ approach to selecting his Cabinet. And Obama quoted Lincoln in speech after speech as he campaigned, associating himself with one of America’s greatest presidents whether the subject was patriotism or faith or veterans.
“Bruce Newman, a professor at DePaul University, called it basic marketing: Obama is linking himself to one of the great brand names of American politics. Evoking Lincoln reassures voters that Obama shares their basic American values. The specter of the Civil War emphasizes the importance of national unity. And, coming from a black candidate, it reminds people of ending slavery and putting the country on the road toward racial equality.
“A Toronto Star cartoon showed the two holding hands in triumph, with Obama thinking, ‘I couldn’t have done it alone.’ The congressional committee planning Obama ‘s swearing-in ceremony has selected a Lincoln theme, connecting the inauguration to the 200th anniversary of Lincoln ‘s birth. Search the Internet and you’ll find T-shirts featuring Obama and Lincoln, along with photos that morph the two into one man. And Illinois’ Old State Capitol, historic for its Lincoln connections, plans to install some sort of marker noting that it’s also the place where Obama launched his successful presidential campaign and introduced his choice for vice president.”
*
Headline: Barackraham Oblincoln
Authors: Mark Jacob, Louise Kiernan, Tribune
Date: January 18, 2009
Excerpt: “President-elect Barack Obama is more than a little obsessed with Abraham Lincoln. He announced his candidacy at the Old State Capitol in Springfield, where Lincoln delivered his ‘house divided’ speech. He’s riding to his inauguration via train, just like Lincoln. He’s using Lincoln’s Bible for the swearing-in. He’s even going to eat the same food as Lincoln at the luncheon afterward. But how do Nos. 16 and 44 really stack up?”
*
Headline: A Pragmatic Precedent
Authors: Henry Louis Gates and John Stauffer, New York Times
Date: January 19, 2009
Excerpt: “Perhaps none of his heirs in the Oval Office has been as directly compared to Lincoln as will Barack Obama, in part because Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation began freeing the slaves descended from the continent on which Mr. Obama’s father was born, and in part because of Mr. Obama’s own fascination with Lincoln himself . . .
“Is Barack Obama another Abraham Lincoln? Let’s hope not. Greatness – witness the presidencies of Lincoln, say, and Franklin D. Roosevelt – is forged in the crucible of disaster. It comes when character is equal to cataclysm. A peacetime Lincoln would have been no Lincoln at all. Let’s hope that Mr. Obama, for all of his considerable gifts, doesn’t get this particular chance to be great.”
*
Headline: Barack Obama & Abraham Lincoln – 16 vs. 44
Author: Sun-Times
Date: January 21, 2009
Excerpt: “BOTH: Important events happened to them in ’09. Lincoln was born Feb. 12, 1809. In 2009, almost 200 years later, Obama took the oath of office . . . BOTH: Used the same china pattern for inaugural lunch.”
*
Headline: Abe Was Our Inspiration, Too
Author: Sun-Times
Date: January 21, 2009
Excerpt: “Every boy should listen to his mother, and our Page 1 designer James Smith says he’ll never be too old to do that.
“Smith, 36, knew he would be designing the front page of the Sun-Times for the morning after Barack Obama ‘s election last November when his mom told him:
“‘James, you’ve got to do something that ties Obama and Lincoln together.'”
*
Headline: Black Designers Feel Excluded By Michelle – Things Were Different When Lincoln Became President
Author: Mary Mitchell, Sun-Times
Date: January 29, 2009
Excerpt: “[H]ad Michelle Obama held the Lincoln Bible for her husband’s swearing-in while wearing an ensemble made by a black designer, it would have made more than a fashion statement.
“It would have underscored the Abraham Lincoln imagery that President Obama was so fond of conjuring up during his campaign.
“After all, Mary Todd Lincoln ‘s seamstress was a black former slave named Elizabeth Keckley.”
*
Headline: L.B.J. All The Way?
Author: Peter Baker, New York Times
Date: August 23, 2009
Excerpt: “President Obama had not even taken office before supporters were etching his likeness onto Mount Rushmore as another Abraham Lincoln or the second coming of Franklin D. Roosevelt.
“Yet what if they got the wrong predecessor? What if Mr. Obama is fated to be another Lyndon B. Johnson instead?”
–
Comments welcome.
Posted on February 16, 2012