Avoid the Lincoln Quote

[Draggingtree]

New York Times:

Avoid the Lincoln Quote

 

William Kristol is the editor of The Weekly Standard.

I suspect that in his second Inaugural Address President Obama won't be able to resist quoting the only other second Inaugural delivered by a president from Illinois. And proud as he is of getting us out of Iraq and anticipating as he does withdrawing from Afghanistan, President Obama may be particularly tempted to quote Lincoln's famous quatrain:

Fondly do we hope —

Fervently do we pray —

That this mighty scourge of war

May speedily pass away.

So do we all hope and pray. But this prayer is preceded in Lincoln's speech by his prosaic citing of "the progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends." That progress, Lincoln says, has been "reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all." It's the progress of arms that makes a just and lasting peace possible. There is no substitute for military strength. There's no substitute for military victory.