Lessons from Lincoln

A milestone today as America celebrates the 200th birthday of our 16th President. Watching our first African American President honor the author of the Emancipation Proclamation in the rotunda of a Capitol built by slaves is truly inspiring. The American people are hurting and need relief in the spirit of Abraham Lincoln, whose 200th birthday we celebrate today: "with malice toward none, with charity to all."

Or in modern parlance: swallow hard and put our future ahead of your egos.

Democrats: accept that President Obama will sometimes triangulate you - that is what Presidents do - but your shared mission of a 21st century economy, responsible removal of troops from Iraq, and universal health care is worth the trouble. Keep your eyes on the prize.

Republicans: accept that "no" and "I told you so" are emotions, not policies - just ask your governors and mayors who said "yes" to the S-CHIP and stimulus bills. Bet on optimism not failure.

President Obama: accept that while risk-averse advisers want you above the fray, the American people want you to step out of your comfort zone and into our reality. Keep up your weekly fireside and wireside chats from the White House to the town hall.

All: accept that you must restore public confidence through transparency and accountability. As Abraham Lincoln advised: "If you once forfeit the confidence of your fellow citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem. You may fool all of the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all the time; but you can't fool all of the people all of the time."

Comments

[JohnLloydScharf]

10:22 PM on 02/12/2009

"No. No way. Not ever. Get your hand out of my pocket." Those are the attitudes people will have when they change from Democrat to Republican - like Reagan did and the host of others that came after the first Jimmy Carter Presidency. When the foreign policy and the stock market are both in the toilet, they will become Republicans. When inflation and unemployment are sky high, they will elect Republicans.

That is too bad, though. The party system has never encouraged democracy and populism.

They fight the initiative process. They fight the referendum process. They will not allow recalls and have never advocated one. They do not even advocate a popular vote.

The Progressive movement brought voting for US Senators or it would never have happened. A vote for an office hold is never a referendum on national policy. It is a trading of one bad politician for another.

Regarding that Republican, Lincoln, you have no idea what Lincoln advocated. The Emancipation Proclaiimation was a strategic move to take property and resources from the CSA. It was only allowed by the Constitution because it is allowed when someone makes war on the Fed.

[Christine Pelosi]

02:03 PM on 02/12/2009

Interesting.

Here are several cites -
http://quotationsbook.com/quote/10207/
http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/27074.html
http://www.quotes.net/quote/2402

and this one http://www.bartleby.com/73/609.html dates it to 1904 but says it's not written down

Safe to say, the quote itself is a Lesson from Lincoln

[calluna]

01:31 PM on 02/12/2009

Ironically, that Lincoln quote has been questioned by many historians over the years. He was supposed to have said it in 1858, but it doesn't appear in the press accounts of his speechs during that period or any of his collected writings. It first appeared in print in 1910.

The statement is fundamentally true, of course -- you can't fool all of the people all of the time -- but it probably wasn't Lincoln who said it.