Lincoln / Obama

With the arrival of the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth, Lincoln has been receiving some well deserved attention and veneration. The occasion has also brought about an interesting phenomena, the comparing of Barack Obama with Lincoln.

There are indeed similarities. Illinois is the adopted home of both men, as Lincoln was born in Kentucky, Obama in Hawaii. Both men were lawyers by trade, and each served in the Illinois state house. Obama and Lincoln both represented Ilinois in the U.S. Congress, Lincoln in the House, and Obama in the Senate.

However, any inference of Lincol's greatness upon Obama is ridiculously premature. Obama's election may reveal the greatness of the American electoral process and social advancement, but Obama has yet to find a willing Commerce Secretary. Obama's campaign hinged on incessant railing against war, while Lincoln's presidency was defined by war. Lincoln was, by nature, a political moderate. Lip service aside, Obama is a Chicago Democrat, not to be confused with California Republican, or Alaskan Democrat. I am not saying that Obama is necessarily a radical, but it cannot be seriously disputed that he is well left of the Clinton's or JFK. Abraham Lincoln was of a truly humble upbringing, doing menial work in his early years, and was largely sel-educated to boot. Contrast Obama, who attended the best private high school in Hawaii, then went on to attend both Harvard and Columbia universities.

In the end, I am not saying that Obama is incapable of attaing greatness in his own right, or simply doing great things in government in general. I just find it intellectually lazy to say that, simply being destiny's child of Lincoln's policies, does not qualify Obama as being great. It must be noted that Lincoln, the moderate Republican, steadily moved his policies to the "left" during his Presidency. Is Obama prepared to coax his party and policies a bit to the "right" if it proves to be in the county's interest?