I recently finished Doris Goodwin's Team of Rivals, a detailed account of the background and actions of the various members in the Lincoln administration. Contrary to the message in the Obama cartoon, she argues that Lincoln's success with emancipation was largely due to his very moderate approach towards the issue. He was a staunch opponent of slavery, but he also knew that if he acted to quickly and radically then people would react against any change at all and ultimately it would hurt the cause. Lincoln slowly and strategically pushed and shaped public opinion towards the issue until he had enough support to finally take a big step, the Emancipation Proclamation, and even then it still almost failed. Because he did not take a radical view on slavery or reconstruction, he also maintained enough support from moderates and even some Democrats to get himself re-elected.
I wonder if Obama is trying a similar strategy, and I wonder even more if he will have similar results. I for one am cautiously optimistic about his chances for re-election, but I am slightly more concerned about the ability to take that big step with health care or the wars in the Middle East.
I recently finished Doris Goodwin's Team of Rivals, a detailed account of the background and actions of the various members in the Lincoln administration. Contrary to the message in the Obama cartoon, she argues that Lincoln's success with emancipation was largely due to his very moderate approach towards the issue. He was a staunch opponent of slavery, but he also knew that if he acted to quickly and radically then people would react against any change at all and ultimately it would hurt the cause. Lincoln slowly and strategically pushed and shaped public opinion towards the issue until he had enough support to finally take a big step, the Emancipation Proclamation, and even then it still almost failed. Because he did not take a radical view on slavery or reconstruction, he also maintained enough support from moderates and even some Democrats to get himself re-elected.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if Obama is trying a similar strategy, and I wonder even more if he will have similar results. I for one am cautiously optimistic about his chances for re-election, but I am slightly more concerned about the ability to take that big step with health care or the wars in the Middle East.