Abraham Lincoln

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Obama as Writer: He's the 'Real Deal'

Literary critic sees an eye for the universal, shades of Lincoln

(Newser) - If it's true that the style is the man, then it makes sense, literary critic Andrew Delbanco writes in the New Republic, to take the measure of Barack Obama from his memoirs. Taking a tour of Dreams From My Father and The Audacity of Hope, Delbanco finds a bit of...

Flip-Flops Don't Always Give Us Blisters
Flip-Flops Don't Always Give
Us Blisters
OPINION
Jul 2, 2008 10:34 AM CDT

Flip-Flops Don't Always Give Us Blisters

Take a closer look at policies candidates are changing minds about

(Newser) - Flip-flops are an easy summer target for media covering the presidential campaign, Ruth Marcus writes in the Washington Post. But, she notes, it's important to remember that the issues are more important than the candidates' changing views on them. "We in the media risk becoming the enablers of inanity...

Lincoln's Failings Offer Modern Lesson
Lincoln's Failings Offer Modern Lesson
Opinion
Jun 6, 2008 7:58 AM CDT

Lincoln's Failings Offer Modern Lesson

Politicians must learn to face their flaws, not exult in strengths

(Newser) - Abraham Lincoln had his dark days. For a while, Lincoln was mercury-pill-popping, sleep-deprived wreck who briefly considered suicide. “Lincoln went Crazy,” wrote friend Joshua Speed. “It was horrible.” Lincoln, of course, grew out of it, facing his flaws in a way today’s leaders ought to...

McCain Dares Obama to 10 Informal Debates

Face-to-face showdowns could echo Lincoln-Douglas, Obama adviser suggests

(Newser) - John McCain challenged Barack Obama today to fight mano a mano in a series of 10 intimate town-hall meetings between now and the Democratic primary in late August. The Republican's invitation, delivered in a speech and said to be modeled on a proposed Kennedy-Goldwater series, would be “free from...

10 Score Later, America Still Loves Lincoln

As bicentennial nears, an industry springs up around Honest Abe

(Newser) - Honest Abe may be gone, but an industry of books, debates, and a Spielberg biopic are all alive and well. With Abraham Lincoln's bicentennial coming next year, all three White House hopefuls have invoked his name, and the US Mint is issuing pennies to honor states where he lived. "...

Like Lincoln and JFK, Obama Is on a New Channel
Like Lincoln and JFK, Obama Is on a New Channel
ANALYSIS
May 17, 2008 4:12 PM CDT

Like Lincoln and JFK, Obama Is on a New Channel

But 'fickle' Internet could 'stall his agenda as president'

(Newser) - Lincoln, FDR, JFK... Obama? So runs the line of US leaders who have ruled by harnessing new communication technologies. Obama's mastery of the Web echoes Lincoln's use of newspapers, FDR's use of radio and JFK's use of television. Obama vows to put the Oval Office online if he wins, but...

Spielberg to Shoot Lincoln Picture Next

He ducks rumor that Liam Neeson will portray prez

(Newser) - Once he wraps up Tintin, Steven Spielberg will make a long-awaited biopic about Abraham Lincoln, the Los Angeles Times reports. The director spilled the beans while promoting Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and said he wants to shoot the flick next year, Lincon's 200th anniversary—but...

Lincoln Letter Sells for $3.4M

Letter contains Lincoln's reply to kids' plea to free slave children

(Newser) - An 1864 letter from Abraham Lincoln to Massachusetts schoolchildren fetched a record $3.4 million at auction yesterday, a record for an American manuscript, CNN reports. In the letter, Lincoln responded to a petition from 195 youngsters asking him to "free all the little slave children of this country"...

Speech on Race Won Hearts and Minds, if Not Votes

Columnists impressed that Obama took the high and long road

(Newser) - The day after Barack Obama tackled the race issue head-on, journalists are weighing its lasting effects:
  •  Eugene Robinson credits Obama with reframing the dialogue on race, moving it beyond "the sour stasis of grievance and countergrievance.” Its most significant aspect: laying out the reasons some in both
...

New $5 Bill Debuts Today
 New $5 Bill Debuts Today 
Mar 13, 2008 11:45 AM CDT

New $5 Bill Debuts Today

Abe gets a colorful makeover on copy-resistant bills

(Newser) - Honest Abe may've been a bit pasty and gaunt, but the public can now see him in a more vivid hue: The redesigned $5 bill, complete with splashes of purple designed to thwart pesky counterfeiters, is being released today. Lincoln keeps his place on the front, and his memorial on...

Political Cartoons No Longer Front and Center

Power of the pen left behind in 20th century

(Newser) - Political cartoons remain, but they lost front page power and heft long ago, says U.S. News & World Report. Cartoonists like Thomas Nast could once sway elections—Ulysses S. Grant credited Nast's pencil to helping him win the presidency—but the ranks of full-time pen-and-paper satirists have thinned to...

GOP Hopefuls Face Post-Bush Quandary
GOP Hopefuls Face Post-Bush Quandary
OPINION
Jan 20, 2008 5:39 PM CST

GOP Hopefuls Face Post-Bush Quandary

Openness to diverging views would help, Newsweek says

(Newser) - Amid debate jabs and funding worries, GOP presidential hopefuls have a bigger problem: what kind of Republican to be in the impending post-Bush era. Newsweek’s Evan Thomas explores their recent mis-steps, and urges them to be humble and open to diverging views—the opposite of Bush's "yes man"...

Rare Disorder May Have Afflicted Lincoln

Syndrome would account for height, sons' deaths, doc says

(Newser) - Abraham Lincoln may have been the first known victim of an exceedingly rare genetic disorder, and the 16th President was probably dying of cancer when he was assassinated, an expert says. The cancer-causing syndrome would account for his height, bumpy lips, and other conditions—but corroborating the theory with DNA...

Study Traces Europe's Bets on Civil War

This re-enactment uses Confederate bonds, not weapons

(Newser) - Studying sales of Confederacy bonds in Amsterdam during the US Civil War, two economists say they're able to judge how European traders saw the South's chances of victory, the Wall Street Journal reports. Investors pegged the rebels' odds at 42% early on, but their 1863 defeat at Gettysburg sank bond...

Feds Give Abe's 5-Spot a Facelift
Feds Give Abe's 5-Spot a Facelift
Sep 20, 2007 4:20 PM CDT

Feds Give Abe's 5-Spot a Facelift

New currency includes pastels and redesigned watermarks to thwart couterfeiters

(Newser) - When you pull out a $5 bill next spring, you'll still see Honest Abe—but you'll also see a bunch of purple and gray, some big number fives, and new watermarks and security threads. Sick of pesky counterfeiters bleaching the fiver and turning it into a C-note, the feds unveiled...

Why the 'Rove Presidency' Failed
Why the 'Rove Presidency' Failed
Aug 13, 2007 10:07 AM CDT

Why the 'Rove Presidency' Failed

‘Architect’ tried to force dynasty, cowed Congress instead of winning it

(Newser) - With Karl Rove about to ankle the White House, the Atlantic's cover story on Rove as the principal architect of the Bush presidency becomes prescient. Joshua Green explores why the mastermind of W.'s two election victories—one of the best political minds of a generation—was unable to fulfill...

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