Spielberg’s Lincoln Isn’t Pro-Obama

As most people, I went and saw Lincoln.  I’m no fan of biopics, but this one was rather good. In fact, it was excellent.  Daniel Day-Lewis will probably win another Academy Award for Best Actor, and it was not a pro-Obama film.  Many conservatives feared that the movie would be allegorical about the 44th president.  Steven Spielberg, Tony Kushner, and Doris Kearns Goodwin are liberal, but the film focused on how the 16th president delicately maneuvered to have slavery abolished in this country.  There is nothing liberal, or conservative, about this point in history.  I hope both sides would agree that slavery is unjust.

When Lincoln is told that the 13th Amendment was two votes shy of the 2/3 majority needed, he reminded the congressman, and some members of his cabinet, that those votes must be ascertained.  When questioned how to do that Lincoln said, “I am the President of the United States, clothed with immense power, and I expect you to procure those votes.”  Some of my conservative friends say that it’s a pro-Obama scene. I disagree.

Lincoln was a war president – and war presidents wield extraordinary power.  This isn’t controversial. It’s fact.  Furthermore, this film was in production for over ten years.  Spielberg bought the rights to Goodwin’s book in 2001, which is long before Barack Obama was on the national stage.

What should be noted is that the film shows how Lincoln was uncompromising on his position about slavery and its abolition.  He employed political operatives who used unscrupulous methods to secure votes for the amendment’s passage in the House.  Furthermore, it showed the political genius of Lincoln.  He carefully maneuvered through the dynamics of the 13th Amendment and the planning of the Hampton Roads Conference – which was a failed attempt to end the war in February of 1865.  The Confederate delegation insisted on their independence, and no deal was made.

However, Lincoln knew that if such news would break, the amendment would be finished.  Why pass such a poisonous amendment that everyone knew would be a deal breaker with the Confederacy?  Nevertheless, Lincoln’s considerable political acumen prevented disaster, and slavery was outlawed.

As I mentioned before, the film shows how compromise isn’t always the best option.  Furthermore, in politics, you’re going to have to get down into the gutter to get things done.  Barack Obama is always talking about compromise, or gives off the veneer that he’s willing to do so, but fails miserably at achieving his goals. He’s a loser.  Whereas, Lincoln saved the country, won the Civil War, and abolished slavery.  If liberal Hollywood wanted to make this film as a comparison to Obama, then they should have picked someone else.

Second, Obama would’ve hated the tactics Lincoln used to pass the amendment.  Third, Goodwin’s book was called Team of Rivals.  Lincoln had one of his political rivals in his cabinet, Edwin Stanton, to serve as Secretary of War, which was, and remains to be, a very powerful position since its reincarnation as Defense Secretary.

Do you think Obama would appoint a Republican to an equally powerful position under similar circumstances?  Lastly, Lincoln, as I’ve said before, accomplished his legislative goal.  The keyword is accomplished.

In the end, Lincoln is our greatest president.  Not only because he abolished slavery – but he also began the process that developed into the national identity we hold today.  After 1865, Americans began viewing themselves as Americans.  Prior to 1865, an intense regionalism was ingrained into our socioeconomic fabric where states were viewed as separate countries.  As such, without the evolution of such a uniting force, Americans wouldn’t have come together as strongly as we did during the Spanish-American War, World War II, or on 9/11.  Barack Obama is never, and will never, set forth a new identity like the one Lincoln managed to construct after winning the Civil War.  He simply can’t since he’s not American.  He is a citizen by birth, but concerning understanding the social dynamics and traditions of America – he’s as hopeless as Jefferson Davis.

Originally posted on The Young Cons.