Abraham Lincoln is considered by many historians to be the greatest, if not second greatest president in American History. Many historians admire, “that he embodied the American Dream. Unlike a wealthy, slaveholding plantation owner such as Washington, Lincoln was born into poverty.” Keep in mind, Lincoln was despised by individuals whose interests he threatened. Historians have the insight to be able to see Presidents in a different light than their contemporaries.

He kept the union together and was also a prolific reader and writer. One may ask, “Who cares if a President reads or writes a lot?” Well the amount that a person reads or writes is directly related to the number of ideas they have been exposed to, as well as their reflection of those ideas. Can we agree as a society, that there is value in having leaders who have been exposed to a lot of ideas? 

Here are a few quotes from Lincoln. 

“ Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren’t very new after all.” 

“I don’t like that man. I must get to know him better.” 

“When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.” 

“Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.” 

“I would rather be a little nobody, then to be an evil somebody.”  

Contrast these quotes with quotes of recent presidents. 

“One of the hardest parts of my job is to connect Iraq to the war on Terror.”  -George W. Bush

“It’s a time of sorrow and sadness we lose a loss of life.” -George W. Bush

“Murdering the innocent to advance an ideology is wrong every time everywhere.” 

-George W. Bush  (His administration tortured innocent people in Guantanamo Bay) 

I’ve always won, and I’m going to continue to win. And that’s the way it is. – Donald Trump

“I was a great student. I was good at everything.” -Donald Trump 

Many objective individuals would agree that these two men would never have become President without being born into the families that they were. Even though it is harder to find ridiculous Obama quotes, he still isn’t excused for his drone strikes on children, his ruthless targeting of whistle blowers or his wall-street bailouts in which he charged no-interest and did not force the financial institutions to pay any of the money back. 

There is a reason why Lincoln is ranked as the first or second president. Obama will be remembered for being the first person of color to be elected, despite his problems. Historians will not be friendly to Bush or Trump. Before we dismiss historians as egg-head liberals, we should probably recognize that understanding the past is the key to better understanding reality. Perhaps we should humbly question if historians (PhD historians) understand facts that we do not. Many of us are working long hours at our jobs everyday and so it is understandable that we would not understand events and people of the past. Many of us are smart and informed in our own specific career fields, but we should give credit and a level of trust to those whose jobs it is to understand politics of the past and present. These people rank Lincoln as the the greatest or second greatest. This President’s Day the main idea to come to my mind is how much the country could use another Lincoln type figure in our day.