Sunday, September 11, 2011
(LE) Uses of Lincoln
This morning at the ground zero memorial service, former president G.W. Bush read a famous letter from Lincoln to a woman who had allegedly lost five sons in the civil war (I think Donald quotes from it). Here is a Wikipedia entry quoting the letter in its entirety: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bixby_letter. What do you think of this choice of material, and the tacit analogy it draws with the present?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Barack Obama is dealing with a situation not unlike the one that faced Lincoln: both men are presiding over unpopular and costly wars, both men are subject to severe criticism from both liberals and conservatives, and both find themselves struggling to hold together an increasingly divided country.
It doesn't surprise me that one way to legitimize an unpopular war has been to turn to the example of a mother whose sons have died in battle; there are few things in the world more terrible than burying your own child. The letter powerfully reminds me of a Spartan story about another mother who lost five sons on the battlefield. I'm paraphrasing here, but when she was informed of their deaths, she merely said, "They died with their faces toward the enemy, yes? Then count me happy."
Lincoln - and by extension, Obama - providing comforting words to a bereaved mother rather than holding her up as an example to be emulated, but I think the main message is clear. Someone's sons and daughters are dying on the battlefield. The problem of a loving parent is something that war leaders have to deal with.
Post a Comment