Obama and the better angels of Wisconsin's nature [Lincoln, FDR, TR, and IKE wrapped up in one]

At the close of his first inaugural address, Abraham Lincoln spoke to those who would divide the United States.

"We are not enemies, but friends," said the 16th president. "We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."

The question that will be answered by voters on this first Tuesday in November is whether the land must remain divided.

Eight years of George Bush's tragically flawed presidency have strained the very fabric of the American experiment. Our debates about war and peace, taxes and spending, civil rights and civil liberties have developed bitter edges that suggest we are enemies: Democrat versus Republican, Red State versus Blue State, liberal versus conservative.

The banner-carrier of Lincoln's Republican Party in this fall's election, John McCain, has torn open holes in that fabric, exploiting the oldest and ugliest of our differences.

We still believe that this great nation can and should be what Lincoln imagined: "the last best hope of Earth."

That explains why Barack Obama's campaign for the presidency has been so successful — and why its success has become an imperative no less consequential than the success of other historic candidacies: Jefferson in 1800, Lincoln in 1860, Roosevelt in 1932.

It may be mere coincidence that Obama is, like Lincoln, an Illinoisan with a relatively short resume of electoral service.

The more cautious among us still suggest that to support Obama requires too great a leap of faith, just as it has always been suggested of young men who bid for the presidency before the established order judges it to be their time. But the American people have a history of understanding, as they did with Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt and John Kennedy, that sound judgment and an ability to inspire often count for more than a long resume and the burden of knowing too much of what is not supposed to be achievable and too little of the infinite possibility of this unfinished American project.

Had he run a better campaign, John McCain would be a worthy adversary to Obama. He was a maverick once. After the most dangerous elements in his party took charge in the mid-1990s, McCain refused for a time to go along with those who sought to destroy the last vestiges of the party of Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower.

McCain entered the 2008 race with a reputation that was commendable, if imperfect. It is now tarnished beyond repair.

Obama's resume is shorter than McCain's, and imperfect in places. But it is precisely right for the American moment. As a community organizer in Chicago, Obama worked to save industrial jobs and the neighborhoods they sustain. As an Illinois state senator, he was an ardent advocate of that state's historic death penalty moratorium. As a contender for the U.S. Senate in 2002 and 2003, he marched with anti-war protesters. As a freshman senator, he worked with Wisconsin's Russ Feingold to promote sweeping ethics reforms. And as a presidential candidate, he has mounted a campaign distinguished by its optimism, its vigor, its appeal to the young and the previously disengaged, and its success in upending the calculations of those who thought they controlled our politics.

Everything about the Republican nominee's campaign suggests that a McCain presidency would be a continuation of the Bush era.

Everything about Obama's campaign suggests that he favors a bolder break with the failed politics and policies of the Bush interregnum.

Obama's is the politics of faith in the prospect of democratic renewal; of the worthy dream that a divided people might unite around common purposes and lower partisan barriers to make possible dramatic shifts in the way the United States relates to the world and to itself.

It is for that reason that so many Republicans — former Secretary of State Colin Powell, Susan Eisenhower, former Rhode Island Sen. Lincoln Chafee, former Iowa Congressman Jim Leach, former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld and former Wisconsin state Sen. Barbara Lorman, among them — have endorsed Obama.

McCain derides Obama as a "big talker" holding out false hope to worried Americans.

Obama responds, "This whole notion of false hopes bothers me. There is no such thing as false hopes." Surely, Lincoln would have preferred Obama's hope to McCain's desperate denial of it. And so, it seems, will the voters of Wisconsin.

As Election Day finally arrives, it is right to speak of hope — a hope that America's Democrats, independents and Republicans will again embrace the better angels of our nature and support the candidacy of another young Illinoisan so that he can secure his claim on the presidency of a nation that is so ready to begin anew.

The writer appears to be a far left loonie judging by his assertion that Hussein's anti-American "resume" is perfect for "the American moment" (whatever THAT means).

But the grossest ugliness of this article shows in the following quote: "As an Illinois state senator, he was an ardent advocate of that state's historic death penalty moratorium."

Can't get much more disgusting than that -- as Obama was damning innocents born alive to death in the dumpster, he fought to save the worthless lives of the most guilty former members of society.

Revolting.

Americans know there must be death for the guilty and LIFE for the innocent.

Obama seeks life for the guilty and death for the innocent.

Lincoln rested his Presidency American Principles, Obama is their latest threat.

I am filled with deep emotion at finding myself standing here, in this place, where were collected together the wisdom, the patriotism, the devotion to principle, from which sprang the institutions under which we live. You have kindly suggested to me that in my hands is the task of restoring peace to the present distracted condition of the country. I can say in return, Sir, that all the political sentiments I entertain have been drawn, so far as I have been able to draw them, from the sentiments which originated and were given to the world from this hall. I have never had a feeling politically that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence. I have often pondered over the dangers which were incurred by the men who assembled here, and framed and adopted that Declaration of Independence. I have pondered over the toils that were endured by the officers and soldiers of the army who achieved that Independence. I have often inquired of myself, what great principle or idea it was that kept this Confederacy so long together. It was not the mere matter of the separation of the Colonies from the motherland; but that sentiment in the Declaration of Independence which gave liberty, not alone to the people of this country, but, I hope, to the world, for all future time. It was that which gave promise that in due time the weight would be lifted from the shoulders of all men. This is a sentiment embodied in the Declaration of Independence. Now, my friends, can this country be saved upon that basis? If it can, I will consider myself one of the happiest men in the world, if I can help to save it. If it cannot be saved upon that principle, it will be truly awful. But if this country cannot be saved without giving up that principle, I was about to say I would rather be assassinated on this spot than surrender it.

Now, in my view of the present aspect of affairs, there need be no bloodshed and war. There is no necessity for it. I am not in favor of such a course, and I may say, in advance, that there will be no bloodshed unless it be forced upon the Government, and then it will be compelled to act in self-defence.

My friends, this is wholly an unexpected speech, and I did not expect to be called upon to say a word when I came here. I supposed it was merely to do something toward raising the flag. I may, therefore, have said something indiscreet. (Cries of "No, no") I have said nothing but what I am willing to live by and, if it be the pleasure of Almighty God, die by.

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