Did You Know?

Did you know Abe Lincoln fought off a mild bout of smallpox toward the end of his first term? Neither did I. Hell, I didn’t even know there was such a thing as a minor form of smallpox- but that’s beside the point.

I’ve been doing a lot of reading about the sixteenth president lately, and despite his stature, closer study reveals him to be under and not overrated. Given the hyperbolic coverage of current events delivered through the teeth of the perpetual 24 hour news cycle, you’d think we live in the most polarized and contentious times in American history. Did you know that that isn’t true?

Red states vs. blue states pales in comparison to the Blue vs. the Gray. The next time CNN leads with a story about the president under siege they might do well to remember those weeks and months when an army bent on conquering the nation’s capitol were within whistling distance of the White House.

Did you know Honest Abe was considered a bumbling buffoon and a complete disappointment to nearly all for the lion’s share of his tenure? Did you know that support for the war in the northern states wavered greatly throughout the conflict?

Have you ever actually looked into what happened at Fort Sumter in the months leading up to the civil war? Check it out and ask yourself what the press would do to the current occupant of the oval office if he had bungled anything as badly in the last five years. Believe me, the WMD debacle ain’t got nothin’ on this.

Abraham Lincoln appeared to be doing everything wrong right up to the point that everything began going right.

On one hand, he had to deal with the wrath of the abolitionists and radical Republicans who thought he was dragging his feet on emancipation- On the other, the Copperheads nearly succeeded in derailing him by convincing a large portion of the citizenry that he had committed the blood of their children for the ulterior cause of the negro- and not the preservation of the Union that he so often spoke about.

All this while many opined and editorialized that the idiot in the White House was a mere puppet who did whatever his Secretary of State (the real brains behind the operation) told him to do. And just everybody, friend and foe, knew that he was a complete failure as Commander-in-Chief.

Sound familiar?

So what’s the secret of his historic success?

It can be summed up in one word, attitude.

Lincoln’s greatness isn’t simply a testament to his vision and wisdom. He had many admirable qualities but it was his temperament that provided the foundation for his legacy.

Slow to make enemies and quick to bury the hatchet with adversaries, he was never insulted by an opposing opinion, and through personal kindness sewed the seeds of affection that pour from the hearts of Americans to this day.

By the way:
Did you know that Abraham Lincoln pulled a Michael Moore and spoke out against a popular war that he described as illegal when he was a member of the House of Representatives? Neither did I-

But he didn’t hold that office for very long.

Some things never change.