What Pres. Obama Learns From Lincoln

Daniel Day-Lewis, center, as President Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg’s drama “Lincoln.” (Disney-DreamWorks II)

Steven Speilberg’s new film “Lincoln” focuses on one great legislative battle in the midst of the Civil War: President Lincoln’s successful effort to to pass the 13th Amendment to abolish slavery.

The film is based on parts of historian Doris Kearns Goodwin‘s 2005 bestseller, “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln.”

Yesterday, President Barack Obama held a private screening of the film in the White House. Goodwin has advised President Obama, and her book is among many books on Lincoln that the President has read with interest.

So what lessons does the Lincoln presidency hold for President Obama and for U.S. politics today?

New York Times movie review: A President Engaged in a Great Civil War
New York Times op-ed: In Spielberg’s ‘Lincoln,’ Passive Black Characters

Guest:

Doris Kearns Goodwin, Pulitzer prize-winning biographer and historian. Her books include “Team of Rivals.”

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http://www.facebook.com/stephen.abbott Stephen Abbott

Obama apparently learned nothing from Lincoln, but maybe this film viewing will help. Lincoln never said “I won. So, there!” to his Congress, as this president did, and then refuse to negotiate with them out of a petty arrogance. He also never went to the public for reelection claiming (falsely) to have worked with the opposition party.