October 05, 2006
It's what we have Republican Presidents for...
From a review, by James Nuechterlein, of several books on Abraham Lincoln, in the August issue of First Things...
...At other times he showed flashes of imperial insistence. In January 1865 he was two votes short of getting the necessary two-thirds margin in the House of Representatives for passage of the Thirteenth Amendment. His instructions to his vote managers were blunt: "I am president of the United States, clothed with great power. The abolition of slavery by constitutional provision settles the fate, for all coming time, not only of the millions now in bondage, but of unborn millions to come—a measure of such importance that those two votes must he procured. I leave it to you to determine how it shall be done; but remember that I am president of the United States, clothed with immense power, and I expect you to procure those votes." The votes were procured...Posted by John Weidner at October 5, 2006 08:25 PM
.... and I wonder what deals were cut to procure those votes.
Lincoln was a great man, but I think the passage quoted could be taken as proof of the conjecture some physicians have made concerning Lincoln being a sufferer of some degenerative disease (I can't remember the name of it), marked in its middle stages by mental breakdown. It does ill-suit the president of a republic to speak as though he were an autocrat.
I suspect Lincoln's vote-managers took his remarks as a combination of stick and carrot, telling the two holdouts to "play along and get the rewards a friendly Administration can bestow, or be obstinate and suffer the difficulties an unfriendly Administration can send your way."
Posted by: Hale Adams at October 6, 2006 07:13 PMI'd say that it is good, in ordinary times, that the President, and the other branches, are hobbled by checks 'n balances, and the usual tendency to have parties of roughly equal strength.
BUT, in times of crisis, the President should be in many ways a temporary autocrat. Not "personally," but as the representative of the people, taking decisive action as they would want. And Lincoln faced the greasest crisis of our history, and he was speaking at one of the most critical moments of that crisis. I'm thinking he was showing great clarity and honesty, and scorning to cover himself by using hypocritical weasel words.
The deals would look ugly if we knew about them, but they were necessary. As were other ruthless actions Lincoln took.
I think the medical problem is Marfan Syndrome, but I don't know much about it...
Posted by: John Weidner at October 7, 2006 11:54 AM
