The Obama-Lincoln Parallel: A Closer Look

Two Presidential Historians Discuss The Leaders, Closely Linked But Separated By 150 Years

(CBS)  Barack Obama's arrival in Washington by train today harkens back to the inaugural White House trip of the former President who is Obama's political idol: Abraham Lincoln. In 1861, our 16th President rode the rails through New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania en route to the capital.

"He called it 'my circuitous journey,'" says Lincoln biographer Harold Holzer, an author or editor of 33 books about Lincoln, including his recently published "Lincoln: President-Elect."

"He knew that it was a cockeyed itinerary meant to expose him to as many people as possible. They say 250,000 people saw him - more than had ever cast eyes on a President in the history of the country."

Obama began in Philadelphia, where 148 years ago Lincoln stopped to raise an American flag outside Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence was ratified, though in Lincolns' time the flag had only 34 stars on it - one for every state in the then-smaller union.

"It didn't recognize that seven states had seceded," Holzer says.

The train rides are another symbolic link between Lincoln and Obama. The parallels range from the superficial - their tapered physiques, their young children living in the White House - to the serious: Lincoln freed the slaves, and Obama will be the first African-American president.

From the start of his political career, Obama seems to have modeled himself on Lincoln. Both were born in other states - Hawaii for Obama, Kentucky for Lincoln - before settling in Illinois. Each became a lawyer then served in the state legislature before serving a single term in Congress. Each rocketed onto the national political stage with powerful speeches and became commander-in-chief without any military experience.

For Lincoln, the turning point was his 1857 speech at the Illinois state house for preserving the union. "A house divided cannot stand,” Lincoln said, drawing inspiration from scripture. “I believe this government cannot endure permanently, half slave and half free."

The next year, Lincoln's debates with Stephen Douglas in a U.S. Senate race he lost placed him at the center of the nation’s most pressing question. (Two years later, he would edge out Douglas for the presidency.)

For Obama, the breakthrough was his 2004 keynote address at the Democratic National Convention, when as a little-known U.S Senate candidate he pleaded for unity. "There is not a liberal America and a conservative America, there is the United States of America," he said.

"Lincoln and Obama shared a loved of words, a belief that rhetoric and oratory could change people's minds, and the way they would express things, the confidence they would have in a debate - not by fiery oratory, but by a calming presence, a reasoned argument," says Rice University History Professor Douglas Brinkley, also the presidential historian for CBS News.

“Obama has learned from Lincoln, and what he's learned is how to hold a civil debate without giving up your main position, meaning you don't have to put your finger in your enemy's face and scold him. You can have dignity and composure and still win an argument," Brinkley says.

Lincoln made sure a text of the Lincoln-Douglas debates was published, and it sold tens of thousands of copies in the months leading to the Republican National Convention in Chicago, where Lincoln's backers snatched the Presidential nomination from the frontrunner, Senator William Seward of New York.

(Like Lincoln, Obama appointed his party’s runner-up, Hillary Clinton, who held the same office as Seward, to be Secretary of State).

In the 19th century, presidential candidates neither spoke at the conventions nor campaigned publicly in the fall. Instead, Lincoln's anti-slavery oration at Cooper Union in New York City became a campaign manifesto, similar to Obama's book, "The Audacity of Hope," his second best-seller following his memoir, “Dreams from My Father.”

"In a campaign culture in which Presidential candidates didn't speak, that (Lincoln) book was as important as Senator Obama's books in creating his public image," Holzer says.

Last March, pushing his Lincoln connection, Obama used Cooper Union as his platform to call for major economic reforms. “Our free market was never meant to be a free license to take what you can get, however you can get it,” Obama said.

In a sense, both of their buzzwords as candidates was “change,” because Lincoln was the first president elected on an anti-slavery platform. “He was the first candidate who expressed his refusal to allow slavery to move into the West just unobstructed, and that was a major change, and that was a change to which the Southern states reacted,” Holzer says.

On the campaign trail, Obama often said Lincoln was his favorite president, telling reporters once that during Senate “squabbling” he’d venture down to the Lincoln Memorial for a respite and to be reminded “of all the hard times that this country has gone through.” Last weekend, Obama took his family there.

With Lincoln often ranking atop historians' surveys of the greatest U.S. presidents, who wouldn't want the "Lincolnesque" moniker applied to them? Obama's circle goes further in portraying him as also fulfilling the legacies of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King.

"What all of those men have in common is a kind of rallying the country together behind words," Brinkley says. "If people start to have the name Barack Obama uttered in the same breath as Martin Luther King or Abraham Lincoln, that's walking in pretty tall cotton."

As Brinkley sees it, a better analogy lies between Obama and Franklin Roosevelt, who inherited the Great Depression or Lyndon Johnson, who launched the Great Society programs. The Lincoln inspiration, Brinkley says, is nothing new.

“All Presidents walk the corridor and think about Lincoln. They stare at his portrait. Richard Nixon used to drink gin and have the Secret Service take him to the Lincoln Memorial at night just to talk to Lincoln’s statue,” Brinkley says. Theodore Roosevelt wore a lock of Lincoln’s hair in a ring on his finger.

“We don’t realize how hard it is to be President and how lonely it is in the White House,” Brinkley says, especially when rebel troops are occupying Maryland and Virginia.

“It’s very hard to say who has a tougher job,” says Holzer. “Is it the man who’s facing a fiscal crisis worse than any since the Depression and also the specter of nuclear war, terrorism, health pandemics, and all of the issues that a 21st century president has to deal with and hopefully solve? Or is it the President who is facing the destruction of the entire country that he’s been elected to lead?”

The next parallel comes Tuesday, when Obama takes the oath as our 44th President, he will rest his hand on the very bible once owned and used by Lincoln at his first inauguration.

[dontreadonme]

:To take from one because it is thought that his own industry and that of his father's has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association - the guarantee to every one of a free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it." ~Abe Lincoln

I wonder if Obama might be surprised to learn he opposes 99% of his "Idol's" values and beliefs. Or more likely he knows Lincoln would consider him a discrace to the presidency and decides to associate himself with a truly great man in hopes to better his own image.

[BuckOffWhackos]

omg like a bunch of school kids....."my make believe hero god is better than your make believe hero god!" blah blah quit bickering over such non-productive non-meaningful issues as your make believe "gods" first of all your all idiots and if you study religious history christians and muslims worship the same god (with a different name only from language) as the Jews, so you are both wrong! Idiots.....besides when our Alien Overloards come and reveal their plans for us, you will all poop your pants and reject the very beings whom you all imagined as "angels" and then be labeled "unfaithful" cause your faith in what you believe is what they are; is greater than the truth, and that,that you cannot except. as predicted in your own books of revelations only a tiny handfull of the millions of the "faithful" will be assended to the "Heaven" or Mothership/Galactic travel.

[Jack_Hole]

Lincoln and Obama are very much alike

1. Lincoln placed his hand on the Bible for his inauguration.
Obama used the same Bible.

2. Lincoln came from Illinois.
Obama comes from Illinois.

3. Lincoln served in the Illinois Legislature.
Obama served in the Illinois Legislature.

4. Lincoln had very little experience before becoming President.
Obama had very little experience before becoming President.

5. Lincoln rode the train from Philadelphia to Washington for his Inauguration.
Obama rode the train from Philadelphia to Washington for his Inauguration.

6. Lincoln was a skinny lawyer.
Obama is a skinny lawyer.

7. Lincoln was a Republican.
Obama is a skinny lawyer.

8. Lincoln was highly respected.
Obama is a skinny lawyer.

9. Lincoln was born in the United States .
Obama is a skinny lawyer.

10. Lincoln was called Honest Abe.
Obama is a skinny lawyer.

[actornaught]

...(with tons of help from the liberal press!)...
Posted by Albo58 at 06:50 AM : Jan 19, 2009

You''re such a freakin'' liar, Air America had no such effect, and neither did primetime MSNBC.

[erasmus606]

Come to think of it, that explains A LOT!!

Posted by repo_man_08 at 06:05 AM : Jan 19, 2009

Yeah, it explains how come I''m so smart, huh? hahaha

[runningralph]

Lincoln fought the worst war the US has ever been in. In that respect there could be parallels to Obama. Lincoln was assassinated for his war effort. That could happen to Obama as well. If Obama can make the jihadis stop and obtain real peace and not negotiations like the Israelis have been doing for 50 years, I will be an Obama fan. Lincoln did it but he had to fight the worst war in American history. Lincoln knew there was no way to negotiate peace.

[flreason]

What both Lincoln and Obama have in common is an understanding that change rests in the hands of the American people. An effective President is one who can clearly outline a vision for the country, and then inspire a significant number of Americans to buy into his/her vision and to apply their ingenuity to make it happen. Just as he did at Columbia and Harvard, Obama has done his homework and he has the intellectual and rhetorical skills to guide Americans while they make the necessary changes. He set the stage by asking Americans to participate in a week of service. He also is smart enough to emphasize that the road back from supply-side economics h*ll will be tough and require time. You and I are the muscle that will bring our country back from the brink of oblivion. It''s time to roll up our sleeves and work together to make this a country with opportunity for all Americans again.

[albo58]

Mr. Obama has no real record of achievement other than winning (with tons of help from the liberal press!) the presidential election, yet some sheep are comparing him to a great president? Before dawning your brownshirts and jackboots, perhaps we should wait and see what he actually accomplishes before we praise der leader?

[alanw1077]

Wow.
Lincoln and Obama, like twins seperated at birth.
OMG, more like clones!!!!
Amazing!!!!
Can I kiss your hand Mr Obama?
Oh, I just get GIDDY at the sight of you, sir!

[erasmus606]

So there!

[erasmus606]

Like I said, one of my toenails is Irish.

They''''re probably jealous of that.

Posted by repo_man_08 at 11:30 PM : Jan 18, 2009

Well I''ve got you beat. ALL my toenails AND fingernails are Irish.:)

[chitownfire1]

He served four terms as state house of reps one term in US house of reps. Besides everything else put forth is false in this article that I pointed out. Lets just say Lincoln had more experience then a community activist state senator and little less then 3 years of US senate experience.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by freerepublic

You have no ideal what you are talking about, Obama was a 4 term Illinois state Senator and a 1 term U.S. Senator. Get your facts straight!!!!

[truthin2009]

Also Jim, how is someone "mythical" if you believe they died 2,000 years ago in history?

[truthin2009]

Not some mythical dude that died 2000 years ago.



Posted by troutfisher4

What''s your source that you believe Jesus (whom you call mythical) died 2,000 years ago, Jim?

[actornaught]

...Lets just say Lincoln had more experience then a community activist...
Posted by freerepublic at 11:01 PM : Jan 18, 2009

Can you tell us what a community activist does?

[erasmus606]

Or maybe it''''s your toenails.

Posted by repo_man_08 at 11:12 PM : Jan 18, 2009

I''ve got pretty spectacular toenails, so I doubt it''s that.

[erasmus606]

Maybe they''''re trying to tell you something.

Posted by repo_man_08 at 11:12 PM : Jan 18, 2009

That could be.:)

And I always forget to write down the name of the article so I can look it up. Although I have done that and there won''t be any record of it.

I doubt that it was because of me though. It was more likely because of YOU.

[erasmus606]

What happened to that article that was about the "World is Watching" or something. Everytime I post a comment on something the whole freakin'' article disappears!

[freerepublic]

He served four terms as state house of reps one term in US house of reps. Besides everything else put forth is false in this article that I pointed out. Lets just say Lincoln had more experience then a community activist state senator and little less then 3 years of US senate experience.

[chitownfire1]

Posted by freerepublic

Youre wrong, Lincoln was a one term Congressman...