Are we getting a little creeped out with Barack Obama’s obsession with linking his presidency to Abraham Lincoln’s?  I get the cultural and racial connection that binds them together in history, but imitating Lincoln’s train ride from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C. for Obama’s inauguration seemed a bit much — until it was announced yesterday that Obama would be sworn in with his hand on the Lincoln Bible — and the whole shebang went over the top into silliness.  Here are some images of that Bible with some color correction to compensate for the overly golden tone of the official versions.


The scientific preservation of the Lincoln Bible 147 years later is a wonderment.  The Library of Congress does beautiful work. 

I wonder if there will, one day, be an “Obama Bible” that future presidents will use just as Obama is using Lincoln’s?





The danger of close associations is the risk of imitating them to death — and when Barack Obama so closely tethers his hope and his dream to Lincoln’s — we shudder in the recognition of sharing of the same end.

4 Comments

  1. There’s a fine line between having a role model and trying to be the same as someone, I suppose. I hope President elect Obama sticks to just the one and not the other.

  2. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
    David W. Boles says:

    Gordon, I understand most Americans are busy and probably dense — so forcing the connection between Abe and Obama needs to be constant and overdone to get the point across — but I would still be wary of making that tether too tight, because there are those in the world that crave closing a perfect circle.

  4. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
    David W. Boles says:

    Right, Nicola! We can look up to people and admire them, but then we need to draw a line and go our own way.

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