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You know, it seems to me that you have a woeful understanding of Civil War History. Lincoln didn’t do beans about keeping morale up. Have you heard of the New York Draft Riots? How about his general (McClellan) who ran against him saying he didn’t know how to conduct the war? How about his own cabinet being at odds with some of his decisions?

Lincoln had a high, squeaky voice. He wasn’t an orator in the style of the day. He did have a good sense of humor, though, a trait which George W. Bush also has.

Lincoln’s success was because he wouldn’t quit and was determined to hold the Union together.

You know, it seems to me that you have a woeful understanding of Civil War History. Lincoln didn’t do beans about keeping morale up. Have you heard of the New York Draft Riots?

Oh, you mean the New York Draft Riots where Irish immigrants, relatively fresh off the boat, took exception to going to war for a land they had barely gotten to know?

< sarcasm> Yes. Certainly that correlates PERFECTLY with the fact that recent polls show that half of the ENTIRE U.S. Home Front say they are considering voting for Obama, who has promised to lose the war, in November of 2008. < /sarcasm>

Before you talk about "woeful understanding of Civil War History", you should first take notice that, in the election of 1864, Lincoln crushed the defeatist Democratic ticket headed by McClellan by an Electoral Vote margin of 212 to 21.

Comparing with the mood of the United States of America AS A WHOLE in 1863-64 with the immigrant New York Draft Riots of July of 1863 (when the vast majority of the Union was celebrating the victory at Gettysburg) is like comparing an orchard of apple trees with the orange pulp that's left at the bottom of a glass of orange juice.

Lincoln had a high, squeaky voice. He wasn’t an orator in the style of the day.

Yet, in spite of his ungainly physical appearance and his unpleasant voice, Lincoln could mesmerize an audience as with his Cooper Union Address in New York City in February, 1860:

An eyewitness that evening said, "When Lincoln rose to speak, I was greatly disappointed. He was tall, tall, - oh, how tall! and so angular and awkward that I had, for an instant, a feeling of pity for so ungainly a man." However, once Lincoln warmed up, "his face lighted up as with an inward fire; the whole man was transfigured. I forgot his clothes, his personal appearance, and his individual peculiarities. Presently, forgetting myself, I was on my feet like the rest, yelling like a wild Indian, cheering this wonderful man."

"Woeful understanding"?

In regards to understanding the Civil War, you can't see the apple orchard for the pulp at the bottom of your orange juice glass.