Son of Abraham

So, Barack Obama is all Lincoln-palooza for this inauguration.  OK, great, whatever, I get the symbolism and the reference to racial equality and Illinois and yeah, it's great he is using the same Bible to be sworn in and there's a concert being held at the memorial and la la la paean and tribute to the gold-standard president cakes.

But ... jeez.  With even a passing awareness of history I have to ask: Is this really a road Obama wants to take?

Lincoln is a great historical figure. A hero. An unrepeatable ideal who managed to accomplish the impossible in countless ways, who overcame the insurmountable, who navigated treacherous ordeals with no road map.

He was also a man. And when you look at it closely, a man who made a success of the job in times infinitely more terrible than today. Who lived a good life despite incredible hardships and mindblowing misery.

Inviting comparisons the way Obama is strikes me as equal parts incredibly arrogant and stubbornly ignorant.

Arrogant, because Obama had a much more privileged childhood than Lincoln. His rise to pre-political success isn't nearly as remarkable. He received an education. As far as I can tell, he didn't spend a lot of his childhood in manual labor just to keep the family alive. And while he does confront certain challenges as he comes to power, they aren't a patch on what Lincoln faced. He steps into office with allies, a friendly Congress, a rejoicing nation all frothy about "change." That represents a whole deck of cards Lincoln wasn't holding.

Ignorant, in that Obama is inevitably asking people to consider him in the context of of a leader who presided over the nation splitting in two, a worse time for the nation than any before or since. A commander in chief who went through hell trying to get his army chugging into action.  A man whose child died in the White House and whose wife started out disliked and mistrusted and wound up completely batshit insane. A man who kept an envelope full of death threats he'd received while in office, and ultimately was assassinated while still holding the nation's reins.

Really?  That's what the incoming leader of the free world aspires to? That's the image he wants to conjure up?

Plus there are all these superficial lines drawn that don't really work if you think about them for more than a minute. Like this business with the train ride from Illinois to DC. Lincoln was a man of great practicality. He took the train because it was a reasonable action, the fastest mode of transportation around at the time. Taking a train today, while romantic and a nice photo op and all, doesn't necessarily mesh with Lincolnian ideals. Same with the buggy ride post-train. You think if Lincoln had been given the option of a stretch limo he would have turned it down for a historical horse and carriage? Maybe, but I'm thinking not, since the equivalent in his day would have been to turn down the buggy and hoof it.

Plus, if Obama is truly intent on retracing that trip, I think it only reasonable that he get off the train before Baltimore, don a disguise (some stories go so far as to say a woman's outergarment,) and be smuggled into DC in the dead of night. I mean, we are going for dead-on balls accurate, right?

I guess the thing that bothers me most about all this is the play-acting theme-wedding aspect it seems to have. We all know those people who have Renaissance Faire weddings and make the groomsmen wear tights and the bridesmaids carry tankards of beer around and guests are only allowed to eat turkey legs with no cutlery.  I don't mind a little play-acting. I like theme parties. I'll dress up for Halloween along with the best of the child-minded. But I rather think auspicious events should hold up on their own merit.

But perhaps I'm being a hypocrite. I mean, I got married at a baseball game. But I didn't make my guests wear uniforms or require that my matron of honor carry a ballglove instead of a bouquet.

I should be able to let this go, I know. I should be able to just think these things and not bother to write them down. I should let the man have his day and be happy that so many people are happy and that the nation's capital will see some outside-the-Beltway action next week and that maybe this event could spur even a brief return to civic education and awareness. But those mystic chords of memory just aren't doing it for me today, and I'm wondering if it's the world's memory or the better angel of my nature falling down on the job. 

Comments

[modernfairie]

One of my Wiccan friends decided it would be funny to post this earlier today.

"The Anti-Christ Will Be A Man In His 40s... Of Muslim Descent... Who Will Rise To A Pinnacle Of Government Power Out Of Nowhere For A Period Of 42 Months...

Hmm... That sounds just shy of Obama's first term..."

Obviously she doesn't believe in an anti-christ, or an end of days... or any of that stuff. But I thought it was a very interesting approach to a controversial topic. In fact, so interesting that I laughed out loud. :)

Whatever.

I think Obama is trying to hard. But whatever floats his boat, I say.

I mean, I think that *I* am more like Lincoln than he is... Lincoln was raised in a log cabin with dirt floors. Well, our floors were carpeted but the carpet was thread-bare and 30 years old.
He was home-schooled. I was home-schooled.
Also, I happen to be the 5th great-niece of Mary Todd Lincoln, so perhaps I'm as batshit crazy as she was!!!

[Angela]

it occurs to me that if McCain won he would have been "Son (er, Nephew?) of Reagan" ... Not that Reagan and Lincoln are in the same category but everyone does a little "draw on history" bit.

[average blogger]

Angela -- absolutely. And you know it's a safe bet I would have railed about that and found it every bit as ill-advised. I just think it's a dangerous thing when making one's first big splash to do it in the shadow of the gold standard of one's profession.

I'm not saying Obama thinks he's Lincoln, or that he is out offering up quotables about how the two dudes measure up. I'm saying that when you walk into a room and say, "Hi, I'm the new guy in charge, and by way of introduction, Darth Vader is my own personal role model," that you are just begging for everyone in the room to start singing the Imperial March at you and asking about your choice in costume. It's a natural reaction on the part of the listener to start comparing and contrasting. Seems to me it would be far better to make your own mark by walking in and saying, "Hi. I'm the new guy in charge, and you ain't never seen the likes of me, but we're gonna have a hell of a ride!"

[Chuck Norris]

haha u suk

[Pop Cesspool]

I think you'll see a precipitous drop-off of Lincoln-mongering after Tuesday.