Lincoln and Obama: Steady Hands at the Nation's Helm

“It was a period of gloom….when no man could foretell the happening of the morrow, when strong men trembled at the possibility of the destruction of our Government.”

So begins the 1909 tribute to Abraham Lincoln by the elderly Adlai E. Stevenson, Sr. on the occasion of the 100^th anniversary of the birth of our 16^th President.

While I doubt there are many who believe our Government is at risk of destruction today, hardly anyone doubts we are in a “period of gloom” as we celebrate the 200th anniversary of Lincoln's birth (tomorrow).

Let's go back to Stevenson's speech of 100 years ago. Stevenson, an Illinois native, who became a congressman, and still later, Vice President, knew Lincoln, and thus, was well suited to the task of paying tribute to the beloved President.

“He came from the common walks of life,” recalled Stevenson. “His early home was one of the humblest, where he was a stranger to the luxuries and to many of the ordinary comforts of life…How inspiring to the youth of high aims every incident of the pathway from the frontier cabin to the Executive Mansion…In no other country than ours could such attainment have been possible for the boy….whose only heritage was brain, integrity, lofty ambition, and indomitable purpose."

Are there any parallels to be drawn with the lanky young lawyer from Illinois now sitting in the Oval Office?

For Barack Obama, born in 1961 to a struggling bi-racial couple, his beginnings were humble indeed. Certainly, it can be said his only heritage was “brain, integrity, lofty ambition, and indomitable purpose.”

As the 1909 tribute continued, Stevenson praised Lincoln’s judgment in handling the question of slavery, an issue, he acknowledged, that “had been the subject of repeated compromise by patriotic statesmen.” This “apple of discord,” as Stevenson described it, had “darkened our national pathway from the beginning. It was well that in such an hour, with such tremendous issues in the balance, a steady hand was at the helm.”

Stevenson concluded his centennial tribute by selecting one particular paragraph from the inaugural address to share with his audience. It was the closing paragraph:

“We are not enemies, but friends. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot’s grave to every heart and hearthstone of the broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union when touched as they will be by the better angels of our nature.”

In America’s most recent history, passion and stridency have divided us – on a distant war and on a broad range of social issues at home. Such divisions weaken the Union. In Barack Obama, Americans have discerned a leader who – like Lincoln – believes our Union is stronger when we subscribe to “the better angels of our nature.”

In his memorable Philadelphia speech of March 18, 2008, Obama sounded a lot like Lincoln:

“I believe deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together – unless we perfect our union by understanding that we may have different stories, but we hold common hopes; that we may not look the same and we may not have come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction – towards a better future for our children and grandchildren.”

President-elect Obama is demonstrating already that he meant it—he really meant it – when he said he would reach across partisan lines, across ideology, across any social issue that would divide us, in order to keep us united and our collective eye steady on the goal of strengthening the republic before we hand it to the next generation.

President Lincoln is surely smiling today as President Barack Obama puts his steady hand at the helm.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Lincoln!