The Log Cabin-Abe Lincoln, Anyone Can be Prez. Was It A Lie?
Jan 8th, 2012 | 9 responses
Was it ever the truth? Or a form of blind idealism our teachers wished for us.
Many of us were taught, we too could grow up to be president. Even us rag-bag kids in handmedowns either too small or too big, scuffed shoes that would never shine cause they were down to the bone of the leather, crowded in 65 to a classroom, sharing desks, not enough books to go around, never ever being able to take a book home.
Even those of us whose parents spoke heavily accented English, even those whose parents spoke no English at all. We were told we could become president. Just like Abe, honest Abe, that we could study law by candlelight in our shot gun houses and our salt boxes and we could ride the rails to stump and call out to our sisters and brothers to follow our brilliant day forward for flag and country.
Cept, I guess is turns out, this dream of dreams wasnt for girls. For a long time, it wasnt for Catholics. It wasnt for people who went to the ‘wrong schools.’ It wasnt for people who only knew good farmers and bad agri programs from the gov-mint, and it wasnt for anyone who didnt go to brick building law school, and then it became not reachable unless one had friends in high places.
Then it became unreachable unless one had kajillion dollars saved back from a minimum wage job while paying back huge student loan debt. Then it became unreachable if you were not mediagenic, if you didnt look a certain helmet-headed way. Then it became out of reach if you had a plan with specifics instead of hoo-hah about how bad so and so is, and how good I’ma gonna make it for you boys… oh yes, and you girls too.
When I was a child, I loved Abraham Lincoln, for he lost beloved children and I remember weeping when I read how they came to tell him his little boy had died. I loved Abraham for he had a wife who seemed even to someone from the backwoods ignorance we all were nailed into, ‘teched’ in the head in a way she couldnt help.
And I loved him for trying to dream up strange, unusual solutions and for his lack of speechwriters and lack of handlers and for his incredibly homely appearance and his Ichabod Crane-ness and the impossible task of trying to mend mothers across the nation who had been draping the crepe for the rest of their lives because their own dear boys, light of their lives, were dead and gone.
I wanted to believe that if Abe, even in all his travail, could lead a nation, so could we all. And I look out on the current political landscape that is barren of statesmen, and larded with complaint and condemnation and criticism… and think “Four Score and…”
And I realize because as a child, I read so many of Abe’s speeches, it is why today, I know the difference between people with incontinent words who dribble all over the place leaking waste material everywhere… and a statesman who says something in a time of huge torn fabric of a nation, that helps to sew back, to create, inspire… instead of fall into a slough of insipid.
I know you know the difference too. And I wonder, do those who speak waste-matter incessantly, know that we know and find them the low point of leadership in our nation? That they will be remembered for being completely full of swill no matter how they try to redeem their reputations later?
9 Responses to “The Log Cabin-Abe Lincoln, Anyone Can be Prez. Was It A Lie?”
You have been reading too many idealistic stories. The real world don’t usually operate like that but the last two presidents have proven that anyone can be president. Barack doesn’t have any money but he will raise $1B for the 2012 campaign so I don’t think money is a problem.
Hi Dr. E:
How ironic that a man of this stature, humility and foresight is considered the father of the Republican Party.
Shaun, he’s an estranged father, much like the real Reagan is a once beloved uncle but now completely out of step with “the youngsters”.
Dear Shaun, you said it better than I could. That fact alone is the most devastating clang for the GOP. That there’s so little resemblance to their iconic father (abraham) and more to the Father envisioned by some as solely “fire and brimstone”—yet they seem to forget the brimstone Father was preceded by a Rebbe, a teacher–{and as you said of Lincoln,} who had “stature, humility and foresight,” and a sacred vision, who cared for those in the margins, who stood against the bullies. Either way, the old Yahweh, the Rebbe, or Lincoln, as exemplars of any kind, it seems so much is lost to follow the cardboard version of any or either.
Dear Jim, “estranged father” is a good way of putting it. And I see your point. Uncle Ronnie appears to have been relegated to the attic. My dad used to say: give a man the means of food, but no set aside for applause. He meant that the food would fund good works, and the applause would fund laziness. Just an old country family .02 worth. When I see some of the candidates, anywhere really, look like they are eating applause rather than food of substance, I dont know that they can care for anyone besides themselves and those very few inner circle people they choose as favored ones.
dear IronMike, you made me smile. You’re right, I have read a lot of inspiriting stories– in-spiriting. And, I think, but am not sure, that Mr. Obama was no poor person from the South Side of Chicago, nor was Mrs. Obama. I really dont know how wealthy they were/are, only that the blacks who live in the shattered glass projects in Chicago would think they were rich as kings.
I’m also one of those people who grew up being taught this was the land of opportunity for any who were honest and willing to work hard. And yes, this included the possibility that anyone could become president. I think people in those times generally believed this too, although most (wisely) didn’t really want to be president. In too many ways, the country today seems like a shadow of the country I grew up in. It feels like a relay race in which the baton was dropped. The comments about how republicans view Abe L are well taken in this quarter. Teddy R is a similar case. Both would be cause for wailing and gnashing of teeth in today’s dysfunctional GOP, but were both among our best presidents. Both were worthy role models the like of which republicans haven’t produced since. And oh yeah, great post Dr E.
Zephyr, you wrote: “It feels like a relay race in which the baton was dropped.”
you hit it right on the head. Thanks Z
To think that back then, President Lincoln had to crap in a pot, somebody had to carry that pot out, dump the pot, then wash the pot and that someone was black.
I suppose the necessities of life weigh heavy on the minds of leadership.