Posted by
Martin E. Gonzalez on Friday, February 13, 2009 12:36:41 AM
It seems that Mr. Obama is and has been quite preoccupied with identifying himself with Abraham Lincoln. Prior to his inauguration, he spoke at the Lincoln Memorial. The Bible which was used at his inauguration was the same one that Lincoln had used at his inauguration etc. Of course the media has been doing their best to identify the new president with his popular predecessor. The left is always very interested in identifying with popular political leaders of the past often tarnishing their memory and insulting their legacy. Case in point, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has had the audacity to identify his despotic regime with Simon Bolivar. Former President Bill Clinton attempted to identify himself with Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson and Bill Clinton could not have been more different. Thomas Jefferson was never impeached and tried for obstructing justice and he never embarassed the American people and the Office of the President of the United States before the eyes of the world.
Abraham Lincoln was a wise, experienced and principled man. He was not an improvised first term Senator. As president-elect, he never usurped the authority of the incumbent president. He never tried to assert the "authority" of the imaginary "office" of the president-elect as Mr. Obama did before he was duly and legally inaugurated.
Many were against the Civil War. Let's not forget that this war placed families in a situation where they were fighting relatives in the south. This made Lincoln an upopular president with many until his assassination but Lincoln had vision. His vision extended beyond trying to identify with a popular president from the past. His vision included a desire that every American would have the opportunity to exercise the inalienable rights, manifested by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence, as part of their daily lives.
During his first press conference as president, Barrack Obama was asked a question with reference to the most recent media scandal involving Yankee baseball player Alex Rodriguez and his use of steroids. Mr. Obama replied to the query by stating that he was concerned about the message that this incident would send to the youth of this country. Apparently, he is far less concerned with the message which he has disseminated by nominating three candidates for cabinet positions who had failed to pay their federal income taxes. Ironically, one of the three is Secretary of the Treasury and therefore overseer of the IRS Tim Geithner who had "occassionally forgotten" to comply with the laws which he will be enforcing henceforth. This is tantamount to having a "Drug Czar" who who has "occasionally" snorted cocaine in the past. Incidentally, Abraham Lincoln was a highly principled man and he would have never had an individual with such a past in his cabinet.
Lincoln's vision was not based on what would work well and make him popular in the short term and thus improve his chances of being reelected. He was more concerned about the welfare of future generations than about his own populartiy. Mr. Obama should take note of that with reference to the financial decisions which he is taking and the gargantuan legacy of debt which will be left for future generations of Americans. A stimulus to the economy is necessary but the funds should be invested wisely and prudently. Desperate times do not call for additonal government programs and wasteful spending which will do more to assure the reelection of certain senators and congressmen and women than to stimulate the economy i.e. building a "dog park" with $500,000 of hard earned taxpayer dollars. During his press conference Mr. Obama wasted no time in criticizing the opponents of his draconian"stimulus package" by accusing them of placing "partisan politics" ahead of the needs of the American people.
Mr. Obama should not be so quick to characterize his opponents as acting selfishly when perhaps the opposite was true. Perhaps they were concerned with placing a tax burden on future generations which will lower the standard of living for the average American family. Perhaps they were mindful of the words which our sixth president John Quincy Adams spoke at a jubilee celebration of our constitution in 1839: "Think of your forefathers! Think of your posterity!"