Parallels

On this, the 200th birthday of our 16th President, Abraham Lincoln, it's time to once again call out the mainstream media for, as former CBS newsman, Bernie Goldberg, says, its slobbering love affair with our 44th President. This morning, on a network TV morning news program, the reporter said, "The parallels between Lincoln and Obama are staggering."

That got me thinking. What, exactly, are those parallels? I've come up with two. First, they both have lived their adult lives in Illinois. (Since I've lived my entire adult life in Illinois, does that mean that I have almost staggering parallels to Honest Abe?) Next, they both were elected President of the United States. Beyond these two things, I see nothing in common. And, by this metric, the parallels between President Obama and President Grant are staggering as well. I wonder why that is never mentioned? Maybe if President Obama grew a beard (like C. Everett Koop), I'd see it then.

Clearly, at the time of his accession to the Presidency, Lincoln faced the most significant crisis since the founding of our nation. I would venture to say that the crisis that President Lincoln faced as the most significant in our history, period. Through his personal courage, he was able to preserve the union. His leadership as the Commander-in-Chief during war time was unmatched. Including making such difficult decisions as suspending habeas corpus.

President Lincoln's actions allowed our nation to develop into not only the greatest super power in the history of mankind, but also the single greatest force for good that the world has ever known. Had Lincoln's armies not succeeded and had his malice toward none and charity toward all approach to reconstruction not been followed, we, as a nation, never would have prospered.

In contrast, President Obama won't even recognize that we are engaged in a war. His refusal to even recognize the phrase "War on Terror" is conclusive evidence of this. His numerous statements regarding return to a law enforcement approach to the problem of terrorism shows that he has not moral courage on the Principal national security matter of our time.

Of course, our country faces challenges at home today, but nothing like in Lincoln's day. However, here as well, Mr. Obama has abdicated his responsibility to Nancy Pelosi and her band of leftists in the House of Representatives. Had President Obama really wanted to take charge of the so called stimulus bill, as I've said before, he would have had it authored in the White House and not by a Speaker of the House from San Francisco.

It will never cease to amaze me that after only three weeks in office, and no achievements or convictions, President Obama is almost universally compared to one of our greatest Presidents. Maybe our friends in the mainstream media will, at some point, start to act honestly in their coverage of Mr. Obama. But, if they don't, we all know that President Lincoln fought and died for our constitution, including the rights of a free press. I just wish that with that freedom, came some sense of responsibility.