The other day, Barack Obama compared himself to Abraham Lincoln, again. Taunting his Republican opponents, Obama claimed to be more like the Great Emancipator than are modern-day Republicans. As if that was not appalling enough, the president showed his disdain for the truth, again, by crediting Lincoln for domestic programs such as the transcontinental railroad and land-grant colleges.
That is false. In fact, President Lincoln focused almost entirely on managing the Union war effort, leaving him little time for policies having to do with infrastructure or education or just about anything else. More than is that case today, Congress took the lead on such matters.
Abraham Lincoln has nothing to do with the Pacific Railway Act or the Land-Grant College Act other than signing those bills into law. Those legislative achievements were the work of congressional Republicans.
The bill establishing the transcontinental railroad was written by Representative Samuel Curtis (R-IA): http://grandoldpartisan.typepad.com/blog/2011/09/lincoln-transcontinental-railroad.html
And, the Land-Grant Colleges Act was written by Rep. Justin Morrill (R-VT). Both laws were passed by the Republican-controlled 37th Congress. They passed because most of their Democrat opponents had left Congress in order to go with the Confederacy.
Let's not forget Obama's blunder last year about the origin of the GOP: Hey, Barack! Abraham Lincoln was NOT the "Founder of the Republican Party"
Michael Zak is a popular speaker to Republican organizations around the country. Back to Basics for the Republican Party is his acclaimed history of the GOP, cited by Clarence Thomas in a Supreme Court decision. He is also the author of the 2005 Republican Freedom Calendar. His Grand Old Partisan website celebrates more than fifteen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. See www.grandoldpartisan.com for more information.
So all this indicates he IS a lot like Lincoln, signing laws passed by his party's senate and waging war against half his country.
Posted by: Jw362 | March 18, 2012 at 09:24 AM