President Barack Obama 's inauguration on Monday is implicitly linked this year with the national holiday honoring Martin Luther King the assassinated civil rights leader. At the same time, this year a movie on Abraham Lincoln has been playing at movie theatres nationwide. Both of these leaders are being consciously linked to the inauguration ceremony.
When US President Obama is sworn into office for the second time, he will use the same Bible that President Abraham Lincoln used during his inauguration in 1861.
A Bible owned by the civil rights leader, Martin Luther King Jr, will also be used at President Obama's inauguration.
In his speeches Obama has repeatedly referred to King. Hence, it is not gratutitous that this weekend's inaugural activities began with a national day of service in King's honor last Saturday. Obama and his family also helped spruce up an elementary school in southeast Washington. On each King holiday during his Presidency, the Obama Family has done community service work.
Some time ago, when King's monument on the National wall was dedicated in Washington D.C., President Obama was the featured speaker. King will most likely be spoken about in the President's inaugural address today.
The president has said King is one of two people he admires "more than anybody in American history." President Abraham Lincoln is the other.
Former chief of staff to President Barack Obama and now Mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel, compared President Obama’s values and “ability to see a clear road where everybody just sees fog” to President Abraham Lincoln as depicted in the 2012 Steven Spielberg movie “Lincoln.”
Mayor Emanuel also stated, “And I think that’s essential because, in the Oval Office, at the end of the day, all you have are your values, your judgment, and your ability to see a clear road where everybody just sees fog."
Barack Obama has demonstrated strong leadership qualities which are comparable with those of other great U.S. leaders including the sixteenth president, Abaraham Lincoln.
One area of comparison is the two leaders' oratorical skills. Obama is an inspirational speaker who has focused on creating a feeling of national unity while setting out the tough issues. Many say this is similar to the manner in which Lincoln approached the listeners of his time.
Another area where people see similiarities is in the political circumstance. Like Lincoln, Obama is President in the middle of a crisis. Right now, the US is struggling to deal with the most testing economic decisions of its history. The country is deeply divided on the way forward. The current anger and hostilty over the proposed changes to the gun laws reflect this sharp division. In Lincoln's time, the nation was bitterly split over slavery and a war was about to take place. Both Presidents have had to face off directly and squarely with the huge challenges of their times. Lincoln’s were overcome. We await history's verdict on Obama's.
See AlphaMax Students present this and other excerpts from great speeches in Portrait of Hope and Peace: 'Great Thoughts, Great Minds, Great Moments in Time'.
http://youtu.be/HJK0LVsm_ho
Milton Drepaul
