Obama to use 'Lincoln Bible' during inaugural ceremony

By Ethel C. Fenig

He was tall and skinny and from Illinois and entered the presidential contest at a distinct disadvantage. Nevertheless, he prevailed and on inauguration day was sworn in as president, taking the oath of office swearing on a bible a Supreme Court clerk purchased locally.

Finding the symbolism irresistible, 147 years later the Presidential Inaugural Committee announced that the President-Elect

will be placing his hand upon the same burgundy velvet-bound Bible that was used by President Lincoln at his first inauguration as he is sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. (snip)

President-elect Obama will be the first president to be sworn in using this Bible since Abraham Lincoln.

Obama is borrowing the Lincoln Bible from the Library of Congress as a gesture "that celebrates the unity of America" to "provide a powerful connection to our common past and common heritage."

Forgive my cynicism but when I first read about the Lincoln Bible being used again after almost a century and a half I thought Obama decided to borrow it because he didn't own one. I also thought Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago wouldn't loan him one. You may recall that Trinity was where President-Elect and First Lady-Elect celebrated their marriage and where their First and Second Children-Elect were baptized while the Presidential Elect apparently slept through twenty years of hate filled sermons by its minister, Jeremiah Wright.