Abraham Obama

At the Democratic Convention Al Gore, never given to understatement, compared Obama to Abraham Lincoln.

Gore praised Obama as a great orator with the power to inspire others, and suggested he shared the finest characteristics of another Illinois politician now generally considered to be America’s greatest president.

Gore also used Lincoln to take on Republican criticism that Obama, who has served just four years in the Senate, is too inexperienced to be president.

Lincoln’s experience “consisted of eight years in the state legislature and one term in Congress,” Gore said. When Lincoln ran for president, he was known – much like Obama – as a clear thinker and great orator.” He said both had the ability to incite passion in others, and that like Obama, Lincoln opposed a popular foreign war – the U.S.-Mexico War.

You will not be surprised to hear that I think comparisons of Obama to Lincoln are considerably overblown — Lincoln, after all, was actually from Illinois, and did I mention that Obama is black?

But the fact that a major party nominating a black candidate for president is noteworthy, combined with my view that Obama’s acceptance speech itself was not one of his best and will not prove to be memorable, does suggest to me that the most apt characterization of the combination of the convention/nomination and the acceptance speech comes from one line in the Gettysburg Address:

The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.

Say What? (3)

  1. Cobra August 30, 2008 at 12:28 am | | Reply

    John writes:

    >>>”But the fact that a major party nominating a black candidate for president is noteworthy, combined with my view that Obama’s acceptance speech itself was not one of his best and will not prove to be memorable, does suggest to me that the most apt characterization of the combination of the convention/nomination and the acceptance speech comes from one line in the Gettysburg Address:

    The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.”

    Okay…

    People are entitled to their opinions. But please, John, can you at least dilute the Obama-hate for one second and listen to a few unbiased observations:

    Obama accepted the nomination in a stadium, before an estimated 84 to 85,000–with thousands more who couldn’t get in.

    JFK didn’t fill the LA Coliseum in 1960. So this was unprecedented.

    Obama’s acceptance speech was watched by a nationwide audience of over 38 million–more than the opening ceremony of this year’s Olympic games.

    Unprecedented for a political convention.

    The spectacle, the music–the atmosphere…the pressure on the candidate to deliver…and he delivered flawlessly.

    John, you dislike Obama, and disagree with his policies. That’s a given. But even those who totally despise him agree that he’s one of the most gifted orators in American Political History. To say “his acceptance speech was not one of his best” is like saying Tiger Woods’ latest win at the U.S. Open wasn’t his most dominant performance.

    The man has only himself to measure up to.

    And as for not having any memorable lines…I give you staunch conservative, Patrick J. Buchanan:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0Fru4dZLGA

    Now, given the events of today, and the choice of Vice President by Senator John McCain, I’m very curious as to what historical speech you would compare Governor Sarah Palin’s to?

    –Cobra

  2. Richard Nieporent August 30, 2008 at 10:10 pm | | Reply

    Don’t the Democrats know that Lincoln was a Republican? Is it really wise to compare your candidate to a Republican? If they keep this up we may see the following during one of the debates.

    Turning to his Democrat opponent, Sen. Obama, who had defended his inexperience as similar to that of Lincoln, McCain responded with scathing disdain: “Senator,” he said, “I serve in the same party as Lincoln. I know about Lincoln. Lincoln was a hero of mine. Senator, you are no Lincoln.”

  3. Laura(southernxyl) August 30, 2008 at 11:32 pm | | Reply

    After McCain’s crack about what Jefferson told him, I’d expect him to say “Lincoln was a friend of mine”.

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