PrintNovember 19, 2009
President Obama at Gettysburg
Today is the anniversary of the Gettysburg Address. I thought it might be fun to imagine how Obama would have altered Lincoln's prose for his own purposes had he the chance in 1863.
The Executive Mansion
Office of the President's Secretary
For Immediate Release
Remarks by President Obama at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, November 19, 1863
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Nearly 90 years ago, gentry of imperial colonists established a government on this continent of negative rights, dedicated to the assumption that, in the course of winning exemption from progressive contributions to the central authority, indigenous peoples must be overrun and subjugated to their rule.
Now we are engaged in a great conflict, testing whether any nation so conceived can endure. I have arrived at this battlefield to dedicate a portion of the field, as a final resting place for those who gave their lives so that someone like me might again become president.
It is altogether fitting and proper that I dedicate this field in this teachable moment. The world will long remember what I say here - we are the change we have been waiting for. I am dedicated to the unfinished work of securing the positive rights to which we all are entitled.
I highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain - that this nation, under my guidance, shall have a birth of hope - and that this government, like a mighty oak, will one day reflect the strength of every acorn which made it grow.
