Speaking in Springfield Ill. today, President Barack Obama made
light of his inability to find a commerce secretary while
envisioning a scene from Abraham Lincoln's pre-presidency where
the future emancipator was...
"Possibly in his law office, his feet on a cluttered desk, his
sons playing around him, his clothes a bit too small to fit his
uncommon frame -- maybe wondering if somebody might call him up
and ask him to be commerce secretary."
Readers can judge the quality of Obama's jokes for themselves,
but it is worth noting that the Department of Commerce was
technically created in 1903 as the Department of Commerce and
Labor, which gave way to the modern Department of Commerce in
1913. Either way, the department was created more
than half a century after Obama's picaresque
portrait of Lincoln would have taken place.
A little detail to be sure, but if Obama insists on using Lincoln
to make the case for his own righteousness, he should at least
get the facts right.
