Thursday, February 21, 2008

My Fair Lady


George Will makes several good points here-

1. The preposterous claim by the Clinton campaign that Florida and Michigan delegates ought to be seated has gained no traction and is moribund
2. The devotion of the Clinton faithful is based on a sense that Democrats should favor Clinton because it is her turn. Her claims for a record of experience that outways that of Senator Obama do not hold up to scrunity.
3. There may be a good reason that presidents with copius experience in the capital and the federal bureaucracy, such as Buchanan and Lyndon Johnson, have lacked the political will or judgement to take courgeous action against the status quo, on sectional compromise and Vietnam repectively.

One point that George Will hints at, but does not develop is the number of similarities between Lincoln and Obama - including their adopted home of Illinois, their stiring oratorical skills based on their experiences as unglamorous lawyers, and their ability to bring new perspective to an American capital riven with strife between to powerfully opposed factions.

Some may believe it preposterous to compare Obama to Lincoln in this way, but they would do well to remember that there was a time before Congressman Abraham Lincoln became the President when he could not cite enough experience to win even the Class 2 Senate seat in Illinois, held now by Dick Durban, an early supporter of Obama.

2 Comments:

At 2:16 PM, Blogger RFTR said...

Let's also remember that Lincoln was NOT a uniting figure.

As I recall, in fact, his election created not a small amount of strife...

 
At 6:40 AM, Blogger Matthew said...

your point is well taken, but we can make the point that lincoln did bring unity, just at the barrel of a gun directed by a drunken hero.

there is a peace only to come on the other side of war. I would argue that our war began with watergate, its raged and ebbed, and should have ended with the impeachment of President Clinton.

Obama is the guy we bring in to negotiate the settlment, because this is a war that nobody is going to win. except maybe china.

 

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