Lincoln and Obama -- My Comparison

I delivered this speech in President Obama's hometown of Chicago on Friday, February 13th, the day after the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth.

It differs in one substantial way from most of the many comparisons of Presidents Lincoln and Obama that have been put forth recently. My view is that the success or failure of President Obama's presidency will have far greater impact globally than did the Lincoln presidency.

Tonight, we have come together to celebrate the unchallenged greatness of two other former presidents and to express our hope for the success of our new President, Barack Obama.

George Washington was elected and sworn in as our first President in 1789, having been chosen by the Electoral College on the basis of his military exploits, his wise and intelligent leadership of the Constitutional Convention and his strong personal attributes.

After having helped forge our small, thirteen scattered states into a nation, he served for two terms declining many invitations to stay on longer.

Much of the rest of the world had predicted that this new, unique republican democracy ─ cobbled together by a largely untrained assortment of revolutionary idealists who had defied the British Empire ─ would not survive. The "change" into nationhood they believed, was too great to be plausible.

That was more than 200 years ago.

Ever since then, George Washington has been honored as the "Father of Our Country," who unified, moderated and inspired the Constitutional Convention whose work gave birth to what has become the greatest nation in world history.

On March 14, 1861 Abraham Lincoln ─ who many historians regard as our greatest President ever ─ was sworn in.

Yesterday's celebration of his 200th birthday provided still another opportunity for many, including President Obama himself, to note all kinds of parallels between Lincoln and our newest President. Both were born and raised in modest circumstances. Both became lawyers and politicians in Illinois. Both were underdog candidates for the Presidency, with little experience as executives. Obama, like Lincoln, has superb personal gifts: a brilliant analytical mind, riveting oratorical and writing abilities.

Obama's embrace of Lincoln should come as no surprise. Lincoln's popularity and achievements make him irresistible and his eloquence makes him easy to quote.

And so politicians of both parties regularly seek to claim the mantle of Lincoln in ways big and small. Unfortunately, the comparisons are often distorting, as when both Liberals and Conservatives claim him as one of their own.

Lincoln is too complex, too profound, too valuable to be distorted the way he often is. But it would be even more unfortunate, however, if we were so awestruck by the towering figure that history and legend have made of him, that we would be reluctant to draw upon Lincoln's ideas for dealing with some of today's challenges. That would be a foolish sacrifice of his extraordinary wisdom.

Lincoln speaks to us today as he did more than 150 years ago because he spoke to the ages -- and to the world. He does it in what may be the best words a president has ever produced, words which constantly urge us on to a course that is directed by reason, supported by principle, sanctified by history and designed to achieve the greatest good. Obama too has already demonstrated his rhetorical prowess. His brilliant and eloquent speeches have mesmerized hundreds of millions of listeners all over the globe. And they have in important ways echoed Lincoln's profound wisdom.

Lincoln saw what other less farsighted politicians could not see: that it was the immensity of the fundamental ideas of freedom and self-determination that made his young nation such a radically new adventure in government.

Lincoln saw the world clearly. He looked beyond the superficial difference that God or history or geography had imposed on the people of the world to see the essential truths that unite us all.

He understood that a respect for individual dignity and the equality of all people was the essential foundation for any democratic society. Not just for Americans, but for the whole human race.

He sympathized vigorously with the cause of democracy in other lands, in Hungary and South America and Greece.

Were he alive today, Lincoln would express no shock at learning that there are millions of people around the world, in the Middle-East, in Africa and in other places, whose poverty, lack of freedom, and lack of self-esteem make some of them dangerous enemies to those more fortunate people who they believe are oppressing them, aiding their oppressors, or denying them the help they need to earn their own share of comfort and security.

He would understand that we cannot end terror in the world today just by having the world's most powerful weapons and best fighting force, anymore than we can end crime in America simply by having the best police departments and prisons.

We have to add to this force whatever is needed to provide people in need with the realistic hope for opportunity and dignity that will quiet their rage and produce peace, here at home and across the globe. Lincoln said repeatedly that we need to be guided by a powerful sense of universal mutuality that will bring us together instead of pitting us against one another.

More than once ─ and most recently in his Inaugural Address ─ Obama has pledged to do exactly that for all the same reasons.

The parallels go on and on.

Both Lincoln and Obama have helped make significant progress in reducing the hateful implications of the racism that was institutionalized by our original Constitution. Obama seeks to make further strides in that direction.

Obama, like Lincoln, rejects rigid ideology in policymaking, relying instead on common sense, benign pragmatism and the overarching grand concept expressed in the Declaration of Independence's achievable goal of equality and opportunity.

Obama echoed Lincoln in his Inaugural Address when he said he would "carry forward the God─given promise that all are equal, all are free, all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness."

To Lincoln, and now to Obama, this is not only a lofty dream or sweet poetry designed to soothe the soul by wrapping it in high aspiration.

It was and is the attainable goal of flesh-and-blood humans who would have to come together as a nation and together find ways to provide fairly-rewarded work, education, healthcare, security in our older years, and most of all equality of opportunity and the right to be treated with dignity.

Lincoln's prose on this basic principle was true to his poetry. In discussing the role of government in seeking to achieve these goals he avoided simplistic notions of "big government" and "little government", "people on the left, people on the right" or any other simplistic shibboleths.

Characteristically, in describing government he went to the heart of the matter. I was delighted to hear President Obama yesterday repeat words of Lincoln that I have cited for more than twenty years as the best and most practical definition of "government" I've ever heard. He said: "Government is the coming together of people to do for one another collectively what they could not do as well or at all privately through the market system or philanthropy." (See "Lincoln's Hands," his original manuscript.)

In effect Lincoln was saying we should have only the government we need, but all the government we need.

And he made clear that the need for government would grow as the world's population grew larger and people's interaction became more intense.

In that straight forward practical way Lincoln respected the indispensable need for a market system economy in achieving the nation's goals, but he also realized that while the market is essential to a successful economy, it is not by itself sufficient to assure it.

For that reason Lincoln urged that government be used aggressively to meet the needs the market economy failed to satisfy.

Obama has already demonstrated clearly that he, like Lincoln, will not hesitate to call for significant governmental assistance in the effort to right the Ship of State in today's troubled economic waters.

Because Obama shares so much of Abraham Lincoln's personality characteristics and so many of his fundamental beliefs, his leadership could give today's America the chance to live the American Dream as Lincoln perceived it, an opportunity that Lincoln himself was denied by an assassin's bullet.

But Obama's leadership could mean even more -- much more than that.

While there are obviously significant similarities between Obama and Lincoln, there's a vast and important difference between the circumstances faced by the two in their first term as president.

Lincoln focused his 1861 Inaugural Address on the issue that eventually dominated his political career ─ slavery in the United States and how it would affect the Union. In the first moments of his Inaugural Address, Lincoln dismissed the other issues facing him as creating "neither excitement nor anxiety."

Obama, on the other hand, has literally scores of daunting global issues to deal with, and his success or failure will have an impact not just on our nation but worldwide.

Obama is the President and Commander-in-Chief of the dominant superpower in a world that has more than six billion human beings, many of whom depend to one extent or another on the nation Obama leads.

Never before has there been a nation with such tremendous influence on the entire planet, a planet infested with weapons of mass destruction possessed by dozens of nations, many of them hostile to one another, some already at war and others poised at the brink.

A planet threatened by the inconvenient truths of global warming, terrorism, pandemics of various kinds, regular episodes of genocide, hunger threatening millions of human beings and now a badly wounded world economy, ailing in part because of a serious recession in the United States.

It's obvious that one hundred forty-eight years of globalization with its benefits and burdens make this a very different world from the one Lincoln lived in and served, and one that will make Obama's presidency much more significant not just to our great nation ─ but to the rest of the world as well.

Lincoln's failure would have left scarred the face of America, extending the cruel tragedy of slavery and perhaps critically fracturing the Union. His success helped keep the American Dream alive.

On the other hand, Obama's failure could very well threaten unprecedented global damage. But his success could help lead not just our great nation, but much of the rest of the world into a period of enlightenment and progress never before achieved.

Realizing that, how can we expect our new President to bring to life the contemporary relevance of the Lincoln legacy?

Here are just some of the possibilities as I see them.

-- Policies dictated by common sense and benign pragmatism instead of rigid ideology.
-- Aggressive government support of emergency assistance to banks, some major industries, states, workers, the elderly, the poor and the sick. Accompanied by a large and aggressive stimulus program tightly connected to job creation.
-- A new era of political openness, candor and reasonableness by the Federal government.
-- A careful review of our expanding attacks on targets in Pakistan and our renewed commitment of American forces in Afghanistan before we make another serious mistake, this time producing what could be declared "Obama's" long, but costly and futile war in Afghanistan.
-- A new respect for the Constitution and an end of the ever-expanding "Imperial Presidency," including especially a clear declaration that wars must be declared by Congress and not by the President.
-- A call on the American people to be prepared to sacrifice, to spend prudently, and to save instead of falling in love with our credit cards.
-- Greater discipline of the financial industry with more thorough and effective oversight.
-- Trade agreements that are fair to our American workers and businesses.
-- A new foreign policy emphasis on outreach to the world starting, as Obama has, with the Muslim people, including traditional allies and less friendly nations like Iran, Syria, Russia and Cuba and a new effort to negotiate an end to hostility in Palestine.
-- Funding of the Millennium and Arab Partnership programs of economic support to Middle East nations originally adopted by former President Bush, but not funded.
-- Voluntary service programs for young Americans.

And much more.

How is President Obama doing so far?

In 1985 I gave a speech at Yale University in the course of which I said that politicians campaign in poetry, but they govern in prose ─ and the prose is much more difficult.

Once again, that proposition has been reaffirmed.

Obama's soaring rhetoric has, for now, been replaced by the more careful, practical, contentious and earthy language of negotiation, bargaining and even apology. He has had disappointments in some of his desired appointees and in his early efforts to establish bi-partisan harmony with respect to the badly needed bank and stimulus legislation that he needs to deal with the battered economy he has inherited.

As usual, meaningful "change" has proven to be an easy aspiration to promote, but a very difficult goal to achieve.

But there is no reason to be discouraged.

Heroes and greatness are born and bred by crises. Washington, Lincoln and Roosevelt were all faced with multiple serious difficulties and reversals, especially in their early days.

As the world knows, they eventually succeeded and by doing so, proved their greatness.

Now it is Obama's turn.

Obama's moment in history is a unique one. On the day of his Inauguration the heart of America ─ and much of the rest of the world stirred with pride and anticipation as it watched a man of unique heritage, sparkling brilliance and eloquence, and soaring aspirations, take the oath that vested in him the awesome power of the Presidency of the world's greatest nation.

It happened in this very room as more than 300 guests celebrated the glorious beginning of the Obama Presidency.

All over the world, countless millions of people watched and heard the pageant unfold. Many of them thinking as perhaps I and you were and maybe still are ─ that there has seldom been more to trouble us, but neither has there been more to hope and to work for.

I think I know what Washington, Lincoln and Roosevelt would say about Obama's moment, and it's what Obama himself continues to say: "We need to hope with all our hearts and work with all our strength, because we know, from all that our great nation has overcome and all that we have achieved, that when we really have to, YES, yes indeed, WE CAN!"

Comments

[FebM]

"On the other hand, Obama's failure could very well threaten unprecedented global damage. But his success could help lead not just our great nation, but much of the rest of the world into a period of enlightenment and progress never before achieved."

There is a global shift in human consciousness, Obama is very much aware of that, there is a critical mass of people aware and fighting for it but the gate keepers of the current realm will fight like hell.

But when a time for that seismic change comes no one is in a position to stop it, its the evolution of the mind, it has happened before, it happens all the time but once in a while its a collective like the eclipse of the sun or the moon while cosmos aligns you can only sit back and be part of the phenomenon. Its not about Obama its about all alive today

[UltraClassic]

Let's see, Obama has been in office for, what, a little over a month? And he has done, um, what again? Oh yah, the huge wealth transfer, forgot about that one. Man I feel more free already!

[LesHamilton]

My question to you Mr. Cuomo is should America be embarrassed that the talents of so many promising people have had to be passed through race filters, religious litmus tests and even personal beauty standards? Three hundred years ago, America created a constitution of universal values and then encased it in granite. Generations have been chipping away at that surface trying to get to it, to free it from the hard case of shallow and self-serving interpretations of what constitutes freedom and equality. Will Obama be allowed to be just a passable president, or must he be a great president to avoid being cast in history as a tepid first step beyond race politics?

[indyleftist]

Lincoln was really not all he is cracked up to be

For example he opposed interracial marriage , and therefore Obama's very existence
More Americans died violent deaths under Lincoln then any other president, and that includes the World War years.
You opinion that Lincoln stands opposed to the "imperial presidency" seems quite unfounded, He basically tore up the constitution when he was president.

The only thing in this article I agree with is that Obama will likely have more effect on the policy of other nations. I don't think any other country borrowed from Lincoln's policies, they all ended slavery in a much better way and avoided war.

[3fingerbrown]

I don't know of many people, white or black, of Lincoln's time who were in favor of interracial marriage. Die-hard abolitionists weren't arguing for black-white marriage, even radicals like John Brown weren't suggesting such a thing. This was a time when a Baptist could cause a scandal by marrying a Methodist, or even worse, a Catholic! Assess historical figures by the standards of their own time, not ours.

As for Lincoln shredding the Constitution:

He was following the old tradition, founded in the glory days of the Roman republic, that allowed a republican government to employ a specially empowered strongman, or "dictator," in times of civil strife. Personally, I think Lincoln went a little too far, especially in muzzling the press, but Professor Daniel Farber, in his book "Lincoln's Constitution," makes a strong and lively argument that Lincoln acted on solid legal footing when he expanded his wartime powers--powers he didn't live long enough to renounce when the war was over.

Don't know if you'll wind up agreeing with Farber or not, but the proposition that Lincoln shredded the Constitution isn't the slam-dunk people make it out to be.

[DelvinMcGee]

Farber is a dreamer and a historical revisionist.

I doubt very seriously that you, or he, would make a fraction of the "war powers trump the Constiution" argrument to support any of Bush's actions in the last 7 years.

Imprisoning state legislatures to prevent them from voting secession or suspending habeas corpus can never be legitimized in a free republic.

[provgrays]

Obama is an impressive man and he has great potential. Lincoln is a great role model for any citizen or a president. However, all of this breathless comparision of Lincoln and Obama is premature and unrealistic.

Let Obama be who he is without the mantle of Lincoln weighing down his every step. No one compares to Lincoln. Embracing Abe's qualities is great but Obama has a distinct set of circumstances with which to deal and this is not the 19th Century.

Let Obama be Obama without the suffocating expectations of some imagined future history.

[SparkyDash]

Thank you Mr. Cuomo, you are a true treasure.

Mr. Obama does indeed have great oratory skills and a unique ability to capture the imagination of his audience, bringing members together to fulfill a common goal…this is what our country desperately needs now and this is what I support. Although Joe Biden had been my choice for president, I believe that events have played out as they should. I respect and admire many areas of President Obama’s person.

I lost a little for Mr. Obama and cringed when he made his “rhetorical flourishes” response to Mr. Biden’s October speech in Seattle. I cringed again at Obama’s slight impatience following Biden’s minor comment about CJ Roberts inauguration gaffe, and I was sickened at Obama’s “not surprisingly” response to an earlier comment from Biden a few days ago. These all performed in front of the media, played and replayed to be laughed at. These examples tell more about Obama than Biden; we know Joe.

Joe Biden is brilliant, outstanding in his knowledge of foreign policy, and a generous, honorable man. His singular qualities, loyalty, loving nature, and honest speaking are exactly why he is loved by so many. Joe did quite well without Obama for over 30 years.

I would go to the mat for Joe Biden because I know he would do the same for me. I believe Mr. Lincoln cut of the same swathe…this is my greatest compliment to another person.

President Obama? He will serve our country well.

[shockjock]

I like Joe Biden as well, but,,,,,he is prone to rhetorical flourishes and I do cringe whenever he speaks. That was not always the case and I used to defend him as well, but he has earned his reputation.

[Zen0469]

Mario Cuomo, we miss you. Thank you for a great article.

[movecenter]

Great article Mr. Cuomo. Thank you.

Just a quick comment on ...."what has become the greatest nation in world history"..­.. we are a modest bunch, aren't we :-)

[Rescisco]

Eloquent, as usual. I would respectfully suggest however that Mr. Lincoln "belongs to the ages" (as Stanton said) while Mr. Obama is just beginning to struggle against the winds of an ill fate. Whether any "success" he may achieve will create a new destiny for the nation remains to be seen and whether any failure will produce unprecedented global damage is doubtful. The "unprecedented global damage" is already at hand and is the product of generation, a disaster by human design. This being the case, the question is not shall we succeed or fail but, rather, will we choose and achieve a destiny or accept a fate already upon us as a result of past error. That is what defines the moment and invites greatness. It is also what tempts the weak and the frightened to refrain from bold action and to embrace the safer haven of moderate action or acceptance through inaction.

[FederalistBlogs]

Call me old fashioned, but saving the union from collapse and seperation seems to be a far greater accomplishment. Were it not for Lincoln there would be no Union today for Obama to be President of. There would be no country for the rest of the world to turn to as people look to America. I would be hard for any President to exceed that.

While Cuomo gushes on President Obama's oratorial skills, it is to early for us to have seen much more than that. There is more to running a nation than a good speech. Washington was famously a man of few words, and he pulled together a loose confederation of colonies.

http://federalistblogs.wordpress.com

[OhioObamaVoter]

This country did not come out of the last dreadful 8 years under the Bush Administration in its full glory. The nation again appears to be on the verge of collapse, as well, possibly the world. And dependent upon President Obama to perform the miracle necessary.

Maybe "too soon" to call, but should Obama succeed, he will indeed be of the likes of Lincoln.

[serindipity803]

Peanut Gallery Expert.

[DelvinMcGee]

We would have had two nations instead of one occupying the same geography.

No big deal, and certainly not the end of the world.

Why would anyone think that the US needed to be as big as it is now to be as successful? How large are Japan and Germany, for the last 30 years (until very recently) the 2nd and 3rd largest economies in the world?

[AtTheMoon]

Cuomo is brilliant and his 1984 keynote sealed my heart and soul to the Democrats. He speaks the truth so beautifully.

[SethBLiNK]

"Only the government we need, but all the government we need."

Not sure I've heard that wording before, but it's a nice succinct definition.

[spartanmom]

Favorite Cuomo quote: How do I know what I think unless I write it down?

It is wonderful to hear your voice again. Your eloquence is always appreciated.
We miss you here and wonder when you will visit with Alan again.

All the best to my until recently undisputed favorite First Lady.

[protagonia]

Cuomo is an eloquent voice in a sea of inarticulate garbage.

[dgscol]

Obama needs to take on the wayward bankers like Lincoln took on the South.

[apduncan1]

Obama's challenges are larger than Lincoln's.­.. he has to take on a kaput financial system and turn it around, dismantle an occupation, get al-Qaida, repair our relations with the EU and the rest of the world.

I pray he succeds... the GOP wants him to fail Bad.

[redkim]

He should have let them fail. Instead, they got rewarded for bad behavior.

[ChooseLaugh]

President Lincoln's place in history was not always set in stone. The gangly six foot four frame was an unusual to see at a time when most men barely rose above five foot six. His vision of events could not have possibly been foreseen at such an early time in his presidency. The "surprise" attack on Fort Sumter (this could have been called the 4/12 attack) shook his beliefs to his very core. Going to war, with what would become one of the largest standing armies at the time, was not to be taken lightly nor would be welcomed by the masses. His critics were many and enemies were everywhere. His suspension of Habeas Corpus makes wire tapping and data mining look small. Many of his critics were deemed traitors and were expelled from our shores or worse, imprisoned. (Not likely a jail with a gym and three meals a day). He was branded as a war monger. No one dared to march on Washington in protest for fear of never seeing their families again. The blood bath to come would be unlike anything ever seen. No family was left untouched. Great presidents are not made by comparing them to other great people because they can't be compared. The things they choose to do, have never been done before. They do things that are unpopular at the time but history shows the greater good.
Happy Presidents Day Mr. President and good luck, but then, great men don't need luck.