Tag: abraham lincoln

Barack Obama: Man, that Abraham Lincoln and his Intercontinental Railroad!

Part of an otherwise forgettable speech*:

“I come from the land of Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln thought infrastructure was a pretty good idea. That’s part of why we got a Intercontinental Railroad system.”

Yeah, we also had adequate schooling, once upon a time. Which is why I know that it was a Transcontinental Railroad.  And since we’re bringing up American history, I feel compelled to note that the only reason why the Pacific Railroad Acts** passed in the first place was because half of the Democratic party at the time was engaged in an armed insurrection against the legitimate government of the United States of America.

The President at the time, by the way? Abraham Lincoln. I almost didn’t add that, because I assumed everybody would know it already: but then, this article is more or less all about historical events that Barack Obama doesn’t actually know anything about. Better safe than sorry!

Moe Lane (crosspost)

Continue reading Barack Obama: Man, that Abraham Lincoln and his Intercontinental Railroad!

Today is the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address. Guess who’s not going?

Go ahead.  Guess.

On Tuesday, just 65 miles from the White House, thousands will gather at the battlefield where 150 years ago the sacrifice and bloodshed and deaths of warring Americans were immortalized by the words of President Abraham Lincoln. Fifty-one thousand casualties were counted when the fighting ceased in 1863, including 8,000 deaths, a toll that Lincoln, in his Gettysburg Address, pledged the nation “can never forget.”

But among the thousands in attendance will not be President Obama. For reasons not spelled out by the White House, he is staying in Washington. Instead of going to Gettysburg, he will go to the Four Seasons Hotel to address The Wall Street Journal CEO Council’s annual meeting and talk about the economy. In his place, he has dispatched little-known Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell to the ceremonies.

Secretary of the Interior.  Well, now we know who the lowest person is in the Cabinet pecking order. Continue reading Today is the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address. Guess who’s not going?

Abraham. Lincoln. Was. Not. Passive.

There’s a lot of nonsense in this Slate article desperately trying to argue that no, really, it’s not a bad thing that Barack Obama can’t get anything done; but somehow this particular passage is particularly egregious.

“Leading from behind” is a necessary form of presidential leadership, but now it’s mostly become an epithet. No one would make a film about Lincoln’s passivity, though that was an essential part of his nature, and political genius.

Let me establish something about Abraham Lincoln, right here, right now: it is useless to discuss his Presidency in any terms besides that of military necessity.  Everything that Abraham Lincoln did was designed to cleave to two basic objectives: Continue reading Abraham. Lincoln. Was. Not. Passive.

President Obama pulls a Barbara Streisand?

Look, I am sure that he means well.

That’s a reference to Ms. Streisand’s classic mistake of using a cool-sounding Shakespeare ‘quote’ that she apparently found on the Internet without checking it to see whether it was, in fact, correct. Which it wasn’t; and that particular example is probably a major reason why Ms. Streisand has done us all the favor of not airing out her political opinions lately. Personally, I’m grateful.

But I digress.

At any rate, President Obama, while making what was apparently a rather lackluster rally speech* for his health care debacle, used this ‘Lincoln’ quote:

I have the great pleasure of having a really nice library at the White House. And I was tooling through some of the writings of some previous Presidents and I came upon this quote by Abraham Lincoln: “I am not bound to win, but I’m bound to be true. I’m not bound to succeed, but I’m bound to live up to what light I have.”

…which, as NRO Corner notes, is actually listed here as being incorrect.

Of course, this should be easy to check: all the President has to do is tell us what book he got it out of. Although I should note that Brainy Quote won’t count…

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState. Continue reading President Obama pulls a Barbara Streisand?

Abraham Lincoln… didn’t survive the Civil War, Gore Vidal.

He was assassinated just after Lee’s surrender, which is not quite the same thing. And if there’s a reference besides you for this quote:

“I am President of the United States. I have full overall power and never forget it, because I will exercise it.”

…I have yet to find it. Source?

Moe Lane

PS: Like Hot Air, I agree: stop smoking crack on the upcoming military dictatorship thing, Gore Vidal. You too, John Perry.

PPS: Seriously, I can’t find it at all.

Crossposted to RedState.