Ann Coulter's latest column, "Genius, Thy Name is Obama," mocks the hypocrisy of the liberals' latest Obama-mania mantra: Barack Obama is a 21st century Abraham Lincoln.
Coulter writes:
With Time magazine comparing Obama to Jesus, I guess we should be relieved that, this week, liberals are only comparing him to Abraham Lincoln.
The one thing every liberal on TV seems to know about Lincoln is that he put rivals in his cabinet, as subtly indicated in the title to historian and plagiarist Doris Kearns Goodwin's book: "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln." Like Lincoln, Goodwin is always open to contributions from her rivals, although Lincoln was better at crediting their words.
And hasn't Obama talked to former rival Hillary about becoming his secretary of state? Hasn't he had a sit-down with Sen. John McCain? Did I imagine this, or is he even now brokering peace talks between Joy Behar and Elisabeth Hasselbeck?
Ergo: Obama is a genius.
Indeed, historians have just named Obama named the best president-elect ever.
I don't recall the media swooning when President George W. Bush reached out to rivals, such as Sen. Teddy Kennedy, who was asked to co-write Bush's education bill. In fact, the way I remember it, Bush is liberals' most hated president ever (only because they can't remember George Washington or they'd hate him, too).
And yet no modern president has ever done more to bridge partisan divides and show respect to his opponents than George W. Bush. I do not say this with admiration; it is simply a fact.
Coulter then details many specific instances when Bush worked with his most bitter, partisan rivals and extended a hand of friendship to his opponents.
Coulter notes:
Bush was the first president in memory to attend the congressional retreats of the opposing party. After two weeks in office, a Wall Street Journal column noted that Bush's charm offensive was "disorienting the local Hatfields and McCoys."
Of course, when Bush assembled a "team of rivals," the media didn't equate his actions with those of Abraham Lincoln.
That might be because Goodwin hadn't published her book, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, yet. It was released in October of 2005, well into Bush's second term, not during his transition, president-elect period.
I guess we should give the lib media's talking heads a break. The brilliant Goodwin hadn't schooled the poor things on Lincoln's brilliance and his "team of rivals." But even if she had, it's highly doubtful that any parallels between Bush and Lincoln would have been drawn by the hostile lib media, or "pack of rabid dogs."
And about Goodwin's brilliance on Lincoln, here's an interesting review of her book, from Publishers Weekly:
Pulitzer Prize–winner Goodwin (No Ordinary Time) seeks to illuminate what she interprets as a miraculous event: Lincoln's smooth (and, in her view, rather sudden) transition from underwhelming one-term congressman and prairie lawyer to robust chief executive during a time of crisis. Goodwin marvels at Lincoln's ability to co-opt three better-born, better-educated rivals—each of whom had challenged Lincoln for the 1860 Republican nomination. The three were New York senator William H. Seward, who became secretary of state; Ohio senator Salmon P. Chase, who signed on as secretary of the treasury and later was nominated by Lincoln to be chief justice of the Supreme Court; and Missouri's "distinguished elder statesman" Edward Bates, who served as attorney general. This is the "team of rivals" Goodwin's title refers to.The problem with this interpretation is that the metamorphosis of Lincoln to Machiavellian master of men that Goodwin presupposes did not in fact occur overnight only as he approached the grim reality of his presidency. The press had labeled candidate Lincoln "a fourth-rate lecturer, who cannot speak good grammar." But East Coast railroad executives, who had long employed Lincoln at huge prices to defend their interests as attorney and lobbyist, knew better. Lincoln was a shrewd political operator and insider long before he entered the White House—a fact Goodwin underplays. On another front, Goodwin's spotlighting of the president's three former rivals tends to undercut that Lincoln's most essential Cabinet-level contacts were not with Seward, Chase and Bates, but rather with secretaries of war Simon Cameron and Edwin Stanton, and Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles. These criticisms aside, Goodwin supplies capable biographies of the gentlemen on whom she has chosen to focus, and ably highlights the sometimes tangled dynamics of their "team" within the larger assemblage of Lincoln's full war cabinet.
Yes, well, Goodwin's sort of embarrassing substantive issues aside, suffice it to say that the lib media never were in awe of Bush's genius.
Coulter concludes her column on Obama's alleged Lincoln-like genius with her trademark biting sarcasm:
As president, Bush scuttled the playing of "Hail to the Chief" in his honor and repeatedly reminded his staff to act humbly.
This is as opposed to Obama, who I believe is the first president-elect in history to have his own "Office of the President-elect" seal commissioned.
Like I always say, even if you don't like the current president-elect, you should still have some respect for the office of the presidency-elect.
You have to admit, that's funny.
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