Jan 16, 2007 10:38 pm US/Central
Sen. Obama And Honest Abe's Shared Traits
Sources Say Obama Will Make Candidacy Announcement In Lincoln's Home Town 2 Days Before Lincoln's Birthday
by Jay Levine
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Sen. Obama is being likened to Abaraham Lincoln, comparisons that are only being aided by reports that Obama will announce his presidential campaign in Lincoln's hometown two days before Lincoln's birthday.
CBS
The comparisons between Abraham Lincoln and Barack Obama have already begun, and there are many.
CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reports that an announcement in Springfield will be highly symbolic and drive home the similarities between the two men.
Just what does Obama have in common with Lincoln?
"He's coming from Illinois. He came from a humble time, just as Lincoln was humble," according to Lincoln scholar Daniel Weinberg.
When Weinberg heard Obama was leaning toward declaring his candidacy in Lincoln's home town, two days before Lincoln's birthday, he said it made a lot of sense.
"Each have ambitions but others saw it before the man themselves," Weinberg said.
Both burst onto the national stage with memorable speeches, Lincoln's in New York, Obama with his Democratic convention keynote in 2004.
They were both lawyers, both served eight years in the Illinois state legislature, and a single term in Congress.
"He could say that inexperience was the same in Lincoln as myself and I'm not a Lincoln I'm not saying that but I have the same abilities as Lincoln to perform the tasks at hand today," Weinberg said.
Making it official at Springfield's old state capitol or the Lincoln Library would be close to the site of Lincoln's famous "house divided" speech; a variation on the theme of "working together" Obama stressed in his announcement Tuesday.
But hitching his star to Lincoln's, Weinberg says, isn't all that original.
"Every politician needs to get right with Lincoln. Both parties. And it's been that way for years," Weinberg said. "He is a national touchstone for the politicians and his coattails are long."
There are other similarities, like race being a key issue for both. Lincoln opposed a war with Mexico, Obama a war in Iraq.
And both were brilliant with the media of the day, though its probably a blessing the rough-hewn, gruff-voiced Lincoln's time was well before technological advances that the silky smooth Obama uses so well.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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