WWLD?
I've seen one too many articles, electoral cartoons and other noise this morning about how Abraham Lincoln would be heartened by the election of Barack Obama. I won't go as far as to say that Lincoln didn't care about black people, but the ideal of him as the Great Emancipator is not one earned by his intentions. Take note of this Lincoln quotation:
"My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not to either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also so that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause."
Just like John McCain, Lincoln was more concerned with winning a war than losing a political victory (i.e. the emanicipation of the slaves). And don't make me go into detailing just how much good the Emanicipation Proclamation did for those in bondage throughout the Confederacy (Hint: Not much).
I'll expound on this at some later date, but for now I will try to drown out the Obama-Lincoln talk with this cartoon from Pat Bagley of the Salt Lake Tribune of Obama fist-bumping Uncle Sam:
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