President Obama and Abe Lincoln
Posted on March 29, 2011
It is Abraham Lincoln who has most inspired the Obama Administration.Mr. Obama announced his initial Presidential run in the exact same spot that Mr. Lincoln did. His post-election train ride was inspired by Lincoln's train ride. His cabinet, a team of rivals, was inspired by Doris Kearns Goodwin's book that described the Lincoln cabinet.
I wonder why Mr. Obama hasn't yet grown a Lincoln-type beard?
And I also wonder how Obama would react if he were faced with the same kind of crisis that confronted honest Abe? What would happen, for example, if Rick Perry decided that Texas was leaving the Union?
How would Obama react if the Texas Rangers formed up and decided that armed resistance was the only way to stop Obama-care? My guess is he would do what Lincoln did--and what Gaddaffi is doing. He would put down the rebellion. And while at first, he might try to spare civilian lives, he would do what he had to do to preserve the Union.
I am in no way comparing the virtues of Lincoln with the vices of Gaddaffi, but a civil war is a civil war. And while we might not love the crazy colonel, there is no evidence that the rebels are any better, and plenty of evidence that they may be worse.
I am glad the President addressed the country last night. I wish he had done it a week ago, and I wish he had done it from the oval office. And I wish he had answered the question more clearly: why are we injecting ourselves in a civil war when neither side is a friend of our country.