Abraham Lincoln

I just finished reading the excellent "Tried by War (Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief)" book by James M. McPherson.  In addition to a great discussion of the trials and troubles President Lincoln went through dealing with recalicitrant generals and military setbacks Mr. McPherson discussed the political travails and considerations that Lincoln had to keep in mind at the same time.

Mr. McPheson discusses the Copperheads and toward the end of the book he discussed the 1864 Presidential election which Lincoln sincerely believed that he was going to lose.  The Democratic platform made the "demand that immediate efforts be made for a cessation of hostilities, with a view to an ultimate convention of the states, or other peaceable means, to the end that, at the earliest practical moment peace may be restored on the basis of the Federal Union."  This was a demand for "peace" without precondition allowing for the continuation of slavery and and end to the attempts by the military to defeat the Southern armies still in the field, still fighting to maintain the Confederacy.

I guess defeatism is in the Democrat blood.  I was so reminded of the "Peace Now" signs I saw for so many years in the yards here around Austin.  As I said so many times to my wife as we drove past those signs how they were not calling for peace they were rather calling for defeat.    And the Democrats during the Civil War were basically calling for  defeat then also.

P.S.  I forgot to mention one other thing I meant to bring up when I first wrote this.  There were only 3 Northern State legislatures controlled by Democrats.  They were the only legislatures that did not set up a procedure for absentee voting for their citizens serving in the U.S. Army...

What should the President do if he finds himself in the midst of wrapping up a war that has claimed the lives of many and divided a country; presiding over an Economy that has generally prospered despite the war and finds himself at odds with international partners because of the war?

If you are Abraham Lincoln you issue a proclamation of Thanksgiving. Let me be clear. You issue a proclamation of Thanksgiving not merely for the blessings you enjoy, but you pointedly name and offer homage to the Source of that blessing, "... The Most High God ... our beneficent Father ..." Whose " ... Almighty hand ... works in human history to accomplish ... the Divine purposes ...." If you are Abraham Lincoln you gratefully acknowledge God's gifts while beseeching Him for His mercy for "... our sins ... [and] ... for our national perversenenss and disobedience ...."

But of course, as is widely recognized by many of today's Republican intelligentsia, such public displays of religion and Christianity should be returned to the privacy of one's heart where they speak to no one; they should be avoided because of the damage such expressions of faith do to the Party's efforts to be about The People's business; they cannot help but push thinking and rational people away from the Party and towards the other side which has sensibly removed God from every last public place. A Party and a President who does such a thing deserves to be in the minority and will be seen by history as presiding over the destruction of the Party and its principles.

For the rest of Lincoln's proclamation which, as some historians have discovered, contributed to the healing of a nation; the unifying of a nation and the ascending of a Party to power and prominence, read on. Or you can just go back to your Turkey and dressing and shake your head at those Right Wing Religious nuts and their silly ideas about human dignity and worth, the nature of man, the struggle between Good and Evil and other interesting but irrelevant things ...

The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful years and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the Source from which they come, others have been added which are of so extraordinary a nature that they can not fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God.

In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict, while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.

Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the field of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than theretofore. Population has steadily increased notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefield, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union.

In testimony wherof I have herunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Thank you to Bobbie Patray of the Tennessee Eagle Forum for reminding me of all of this, and ...

From my family to yours,

A Blessed and Joyous Thanksgiving ...

Blue Collar Muse

135 years ago today, Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettsyburg Address.  Since we're in need of Republican leaders these days, I thought it appropriate to call out one of the big guns.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Cross-posted at Video Done Right, the blog of Eyeblast.tv

To hear Barack Obama tell it, Campaign 2008 is all about change. Unfortunately, both he and John McCain today agreed to the same, tired routine of debates organized by the Commission on Presidential Debates for the past five presidential cycles.

Sticking to the system – this year that means three presidential debates on Sept. 26, Oct. 7 and Oct. 15, and a vice-presidential debate on Oct. 2 – makes strategic sense for Obama. While it’s true that accepting a 20-year-old debate structure runs counter to Obama’s pitch as a change agent, the reality is that speaking off-the-cuff isn’t Obama’s strong suit.

He’s gives a great speech, but Obama proved at Saturday’s Saddleback Church forum, where he and McCain answered the same questions in back-to-back appearances, that he is more professorial than presidential – and not necessarily a good professor.

But McCain should know better than to toe the debate line. He is the mirror opposite of Obama. He is lousy at giving prepared speeches but excels at connecting with voters in question-and-answer sessions. That’s true of town-hall meetings, podium-style debates and innovative forums like Saddleback.

So why is McCain settling for just three structured, predictable debates? He needs to think outside the debate hall – and do it in a way that is perfect for the Internet video era.

He should take a cue from Abraham Lincoln, the first Republican elected president and a man remembered for his anti-slavery debates with Stephen Douglas.

The seven official Lincoln-Douglas debates in Illinois’ 1858 U.S. Senate race aren’t the model McCain needs to remember, though. They are rightly remembered for their great pageantry and oratory, but they also featured plenty of mud-slinging by both candidates. Not much has changed from then until today.

The better strategy for McCain to follow is the one that Lincoln employed to force Douglas to confront the challenge face-to-face. Lincoln followed his long-time rival around the state. He was in the Chicago audience when Douglas announced his re-election bid and responded to Douglas' comments the next day. He later followed Douglas to Bloomington and Springfield.

Douglas ultimately agreed to more structured debates in order to regain some control over the confrontations and to avoid charges of political cowardice.

That tactic could be even more powerful today. Imagine McCain following Obama from city to city, answering him point for point and having staffers capture it all on video. The press would love it – and even if their infatuation with Obama keeps them from reporting on the encounters fairly, the McCain team could blast the footage across the Web.

It’s exactly the kind of thing a maverick should be doing in this new media age.