Bush Offered His 'Lincoln Moment'

President Bush is being urged to do something he's never done in public: Visit the graves of fallen Iraq war soldiers. Organizers of a "National Remembrance" day have invited the president to attend their event at Arlington National Cemetery April 9. They've teamed with family members of the fallen in the graveyard's Section 60 to plead for his attendance. It's a touchy issue for the prez. While he tries to focus on the successes of the war, the fifth anniversary just passed with the 4,000th death in Iraq. No response yet from the Oval Office, but there is a model to follow. At the 1863 dedication of Gettysburg cemetery four months after the fateful battle, Abe Lincoln stepped forward and gave his most memorable speech, the Gettysburg Address.

By Paul Bedard