The American Spectator

In his ceremonial second oath of office on Monday, one of the two bibles used by President Obama has been used by only one president prior to Obama: Abraham Lincoln. Obama has spoken about how Lincoln’s actions ending slavery were what allowed Obama to have a chance to become president (notwithstanding that our current president’s family history does not include anyone we know of who was a slave.)

But for Lincoln, ending slavery was a side-benefit, albeit an enormous and important one, of his true goal: preserving the Union. And in this, the contrast with a divide-and-conquer Barack Obama could not be greater. Our current president’s first term was marked by the most extreme “us and them” approach in generations, with Obama blaming Republicans, conservatives, and anyone who disagrees with him, not just of policy errors but of bad intentions.

It is somewhere between painful and nauseating to know that Barack Obama used President Lincoln’s bible to swear that he will “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.” After all, Obama, like his Progressive progenitors barely understand the Constitution and disdain what they do understand. Yet, just as it is permissible in Islam to lie to the infidels in order to expand the domination of Allah-worshipers, the left is purely utilitarian in approach, willing to say anything (and perhaps even believing some of their own propaganda) to expand the power of government at the expense of liberty, economic growth, and our children’s futures.

Obama’s second term is likely to be even more hyper-partisan, as demonstrated by his claiming within the past week that principled defenders of the Second Amendment are really just interested in “ratings or revenue.” Senate Republicans are nearly powerless and may become even more so should Harry Reid successfully implement a rule change gutting the filibuster. And House Republicans are getting shakier by the day, fearful of an Obama propaganda machine which runs circles around them. (David Plouffe is Goebbels-like in his willingness to repeat the biggest political lies — and it’s working, as it did then and there, on an ignorant, gullible public.)

While Abraham Lincoln would surely admire the United States for electing its first black president, he would shudder at the price being paid by our Union (think of the literal meaning of the word, as with the word “United” in our republic’s name) as Barack Obama’s first choice of political tactic is ever and always to create disunity and division.

The Civil War was fought to preserve the Union even more than it was fought to end slavery. Fortunately, it accomplished both. But Barack Obama, as usual, doesn’t understand the greatest lessons of American history.