Note the difference between this initial version and the accepted, spoken one....
NICOLAY: "It is rather for us, the living, we here be dedicated to the great task remaining before us – that, from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here, gave the last full measure of devotion – that we here highly resolve these dead shall not have died in vain; that the nation, shall have a new birth of freedom"
LINCOLN: "It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom"
My opinion is that Obama specifically chose this early draft because of its omission of the phrase UNDER GOD.
Allow me to correct myself, Lincoln wrote ALL of the versions. This initial version is referred to as the NICOLAY version as it was given to Lincoln’s personal secretary.
Why wouldn’t 0bama have read what Lincoln actually said in his speech?
I tend to agree with you. However, although there may be multiple drafts, there is only ONE version of the Gettysburg Address, and that is the one actually DELIVERED at Gettysburg.
PBS mentions on the site that they asked him to read the first version. What happened behind the scenes is conjecture.
We will never know whether Obama asked for that version or not.
It’s odd, though, that the president would not be asked to read one of the later versions, which include the phrase “under God”. The case can be made that Lincoln did use this phrase when he delivered the speech.
excerpt:
The fact that “under God” is not in the pre-speech transcripts, however, does not mean that it was not included in Abraham Lincoln’s delivery. In fact, the weight of evidence suggests that Lincoln did say the words “under God.” Four separate newspaper reporters, each of whom was present at Gettysburg, wrote down their firsthand accounts of Lincoln’s speech, and all four accounts include the phrase “under God.” (Garry Wills, Lincoln at Gettysburg : The Words That Remade America. New York: Simon & Schuster Trade Paperbacks, New York, Ny, U.S.A., 1992.
pp. 191-92).
http://voices.yahoo.com/did-abraham-lincoln-say-nation-under-god-the-3288612.html
To the extent there is any need for a defense on his part, I agree with you.
Yet, the implications of this defense will be ignored — that he is an idiot who can’t get it right.
(Of course he knew exactly what he was doing, or his handlers did).