Enough is Enough...

Hello all! It's been a few days since I've posted, so I thought I'd throw something up here. SHEAm has some great posts below and he covers most of the big stories that this week. Definitely take a look, especially his post on Friedman's column and the latest news with DC Circus

Just a quick rant for a moment:

Enough with this Obama-Lincoln business. Ever since election day Obama and his team have been straining credulity to compare the President-elect with our 16th Prsident. It started with this whole team of rivals b.s., then it was the 'transformational' nature of both 16 and 44, the Illinois connection, Lincoln's bicentennial, taking the same train route to Washington that Lincoln did, and now Obama is planning to use the same bible as Lincoln for the inauguration. But let's be clear:

Abraham Lincoln came to office amidst the gravest crisis ever to grip the country and while history has (appropriately) judged him to be one of the greatest presidents ever to serve, at the time things were hardly as clear-cut. Lincoln won a bare plurality of 39.8% of the vote in 1860 in a 4-way race. The Civil War broke out shortly thereafter and it was Lincoln's leadership that helped bring that dark chapter to a close and guaranteed his place in history. One of his many admirable decisions was to he chose a Cabinet consisting of men of different political stripes in an effort to help unify the country.

By contrast, though we are facing a financial crisis that should not be underestimated, we are not facing a crisis remotely comparable to the Civic War. While Obama will surely be tested and there are many unknown obstacles yet to come, we do not find our country on the brink of extinction. Our country is not nearly so divided, and Obama won a much more clear-cut victory. This "team of rivals" the press is making so much noise about is a team of almost all Democrats and nearly everyone is ideologically in line with Obama, even his vanquished foe, Sen. Clinton. I see nothing whatsoever wrong with that and I completely believe that to the victor goes the spoils. But a Lincoln-esque team of rivals? Give me a break.