On
Why Lincoln is, Like, the Best President, Like, Ever
For
150 years at least, maybe even more, the question “Who is the best American
president?” has been answered with, “That Lincoln dude… he, like, got rid of
slavery and stuff,” more often than it is met with “OH-BA-MA!” And while I wish
not to necessarily debate the greatness of this undeniably powerful, yet gentle
and almost fatherly figure plucked from the depths of history and selected for
scrutiny by the masses, I do wish to answer that persistent question: What
makes Lincoln so, like, great and stuff?
When
looking at Lincoln
from the outside, we are presented with several options and, similarly, several
conundrums. The question becomes, “Who was the real Lincoln ?”
The confusion is understandable, as history presents us with several views of Lincoln ’s life, all of
them complex and many conflicting. We have the Lincoln of the Lincoln Memorial- the Supreme
Overlord of the Penny- and the lesser-known, more often over-looked, Honest
Abe- stripped of title, power, and status. Well, as with any quest for
truth, the best place to start is at the beginning, and Lincoln’s roots,
especially his situation at the beginning of his first term as president, show
much about his life and the great accomplishments that were to be achieved over a
period of four short years. And while Lincoln ’s
presidency was a time of war and bloody turmoil between brothers, friends, and
countrymen, there is a reason the beauty of his service, and, more importantly,
the way he served, has not been over-looked.
First,
it must be considered that the stresses placed upon Lincoln alone, the private and personal
grievances as well as the blood of hundreds of thousands of soldiers, were his,
and his alone, to bear. Lincoln
had the blood of a nation on his hands, and he had the brunt of responsibility
for cleansing and removing that stain. Granted, Lincoln had a family, a wife, an entire
cabinet of advisers to presumably share this burden, and yet, in most cases
these individuals only added weight to the load. Under such tremendous stress,
while enduring almost incomprehensible pain and guilt, Lincoln still managed to smile and to do his
best to lighten the burden of those around him. The cinematic tribute to his
work and career, Lincoln ,
takes care to present this side of Lincoln ’s
character. Most memorably, as word of the bloody battle at Wilmington
is being delivered via telegraph and Secretary of War Edwin Stanton is heatedly
ranting at the telegraph operators, Lincoln
butts in calmly with a humorous story about Ethan Allen. An interruption which,
at the time, might have seemed poorly timed and unnecessary ended up providing
a calculated relief of tension for all involved. In this way Lincoln quietly, nobly, bore the burden of
thousands, yet took the time to make a telegraph officer’s day better.
Much
more can be said about Abraham Lincoln: family man, philosopher, walking stress
ball. Although, it is important to note that Lincoln was not perfect, which makes his character
an even more intriguing subject of scrutiny. Lincoln quarrels almost constantly with his
wife, Mary Todd, whose own character flaws are inherent, yet likewise
inherently justified following the death of one son in the White House and the
feared death of another, Robert, who begs to join the Union Army. Robert and
Lincoln, too, argue about Robert’s desire to offer himself up as a sacrifice
for the Union’s cause; at one point Robert’s accusation that Lincoln doesn’t really care about Robert’s
life, but is merely afraid of Mary Todd’s reaction to his joining the army,
results in a hasty slap from his father. Although Lincoln
immediately shows remorse and tries to hug Robert, the damage is done, and we
see through his impenetrable calm to the turmoil that is there, just below the
surface, intensified by this new conflict between desire to preserve his son
and desire to preserve the Union . While this
may be enough to incriminate him in the eyes of some, as the President himself
said, “We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because
thorn bushes have roses.” Lincoln ,
it seems, was a bush whose roses far outnumbered its thorns.
The
Lincoln more often scrutinized by historians, the immortalized and all-powerful,
God-like man who sits nobly upon his throne at the Lincoln Memorial, is the
Lincoln who led the nation to victory in the Civil War, who worked to abolish
slavery, and who did his best to ensure that, following the War, the Union
could return as best as possible to its former glory without excessive retribution
or bad blood. This Lincoln
was a political mastermind who used his powers effectively and calculatedly,
not excessively. He was a master of argument whose strategy of using parables
and stories to relate his point of view made the listener discover for
themselves what Lincoln
wanted them to believe, as though it were their own idea and not a viewpoint
suggested to them. Lincoln
was a man of magnanimity whose moral compass always pointed him toward True
North, yet whose foresight and intelligence enabled him to take the most
efficient, practical route to his final destination. Through determination,
selflessness, practicality, and gentleness, Lincoln was able to accomplish his goals and
teach valuable lessons to his companions on the way.
So,
while historically the battle between Honest Abe: saint, patriot, and family
man and Abraham Lincoln: Moral Crusader and Supreme Overlord of the Lincoln
Memorial rages on, the most important aspects of Lincoln’s character have been
carefully laid out by Steven Spielburg for all the world to see in the final
minutes of Lincoln. Lincoln
was, more than a man who sought to restore goodness to the war-torn Union he presided over, a man who admired the goodness he
saw already in the world and only sought to perpetuate it. Near the close of the
film, after a visit to the ravaged, post-war Virginia countryside, Mary Todd
asks Lincoln what he would like to do now that he has accomplished this mission
of, in effect, salvaging the civilized world from utter destruction. Lincoln answers not with wishes of celebration, of grand
parties, of countless hordes swarming the White House, screaming his name in
adoration, but expresses the desire to visit Jerusalem , where “David and Solomon walked.”
I think it is this, small and simple as it may seem, that pinpoints the true
nature of Lincoln ’s
goodness. He admired not grand, worldly men, but men who, although they were
kings “clothed in immense power,” ruled with clear heads and profound wisdom.
It is this, the knowledge that Lincoln selected
such men as his heroes that, more than anything, answers the persistent
question of why Lincoln
was, like, the greatest president ever.
TEAM LINCOLN --- Not just cuz he abolished slavery, but because he, like, rocked. And stuff.
P.S. Happy Friday!
