The rail-splitter

By Michael Gabor

One score and seven days ago, give or take, our electorate brought forth on this continent, a new President. Since then, he’s been able to become Lincoln faster than Lincoln, or so some pundits would have us believe.

Kicking conservatives when they’re down has become all the rage, but co-opting the first and greatest Republican? That’s just hitting below the belt. Redistributing income is one thing, but redistributing presidents is in need of a serious congressional oversight committee.

But maybe the pundits have a point. After all, Barack Obama did read a book about Lincoln, Team of Rivals. The book chronicled Lincoln’s incredible courage and wisdom in choosing a strong cabinet regardless of whether the individuals agreed with him. So far, Obama has brought change to government by rounding up the usual suspects: entrenched Washington insiders and Clinton appointees. Is this a new team of rivals? Yes, if you count jockeying for the seat closest to the tip of the left wing of Air Force One as a substantive rivalry.

It’s hard to argue with facts. Lincoln came from humble beginnings and an undistinguished early political career, and became a great president. Obama came from humble beginnings and an undistinguished political career. Other than that, he’s as close to Lincoln as thousands of others who have read Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book. Let’s at least wait until he gets inaugurated to put him on the five dollar bill. Plus, it’ll give us time to find some extra space on Mount Rushmore.