Philosophy
On President's Day, 200 years after his birth, it is worth thinking about Lincoln's second inaugural address, which ends, of course,
"With malice towards none...to bind up the nation's wounds," these do seem to be the notions guiding Obama's bipartisan approach. Are they more than nice words? Are the wounds we have now scars from those of Lincoln's time? Is the unfinished work we have now the same as that Lincoln envisioned? Do the political realities allow for the wounds to be bound?
- Most Important Presidential Words
On Presidents' Day, let's think about what Presidents of the United States have said. Perhaps the most powerful part of the position is an informal power, the bully pulpit. When presidents speak, we listen. What are the most...
- Most Important Presidential Actions
On President's Day, let's consider what Presidents have and have not done. What were the most historically important actions or words, both positive and negative, that have come from American Presidents? I'd put Washington's stepping down...
- Gettysburg Address And Proposition To Which We Must Now Be Dedicated
It was 145 years ago today that Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address at a ceremony dedicating the cemetery to hold those slain in the battle. It is a spot I pass every morning. While the old part of the cemetery has small markers arranged...
- Bush Another Lincoln?: You Decide
Over at Lawyers, Guns, and Money, Scott points out that right-wing pundit Hugh Hewitt is continuing to contend that a century from now historians will see George W. Bush as another Abraham Lincoln. He writes: And that's why every president, whether...
- The Gettysburg Address - Animated
Imagine how Edward Everett (the politician and famed orator who had been invited to deliver the Gettysburg Address) must have felt when, after having delivered a carefully crafted speech lasting around two hours, was suddenly upstaged by Abraham Lincoln...
Philosophy
The Unifinished Work
On President's Day, 200 years after his birth, it is worth thinking about Lincoln's second inaugural address, which ends, of course,
"With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."The phrase "let us strive on to finish the work" is very similar to the words
"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," from his Gettysburg Address delivered three months later.
"With malice towards none...to bind up the nation's wounds," these do seem to be the notions guiding Obama's bipartisan approach. Are they more than nice words? Are the wounds we have now scars from those of Lincoln's time? Is the unfinished work we have now the same as that Lincoln envisioned? Do the political realities allow for the wounds to be bound?
- Most Important Presidential Words
On Presidents' Day, let's think about what Presidents of the United States have said. Perhaps the most powerful part of the position is an informal power, the bully pulpit. When presidents speak, we listen. What are the most...
- Most Important Presidential Actions
On President's Day, let's consider what Presidents have and have not done. What were the most historically important actions or words, both positive and negative, that have come from American Presidents? I'd put Washington's stepping down...
- Gettysburg Address And Proposition To Which We Must Now Be Dedicated
It was 145 years ago today that Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address at a ceremony dedicating the cemetery to hold those slain in the battle. It is a spot I pass every morning. While the old part of the cemetery has small markers arranged...
- Bush Another Lincoln?: You Decide
Over at Lawyers, Guns, and Money, Scott points out that right-wing pundit Hugh Hewitt is continuing to contend that a century from now historians will see George W. Bush as another Abraham Lincoln. He writes: And that's why every president, whether...
- The Gettysburg Address - Animated
Imagine how Edward Everett (the politician and famed orator who had been invited to deliver the Gettysburg Address) must have felt when, after having delivered a carefully crafted speech lasting around two hours, was suddenly upstaged by Abraham Lincoln...