Thursday, January 22, 2009

Historic Addresses

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Speech:
Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address
Current Event: Iraq War - Obama's Opinion

Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address refers to the Civil War and connects to the Iraq War, in the way that Lincoln's hope is "...that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away.", just as Barrack Obama's first objective is "...to give the military a new mission: ending the war in Iraq." They both have a mutual way of thinking, to stop the war.

After winning the re-election in 1964, Lincoln started to seek for peace, "encouraging Southerners to lay down their weapons..." He was trying to put an end to the war. He stated that "With malice towards none, with charity for all..." would be a better future for America. "...To finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds..." Notice the word "work", which means the Civil War; stopping the war would start healing the wounded.

In my opinion, Obama has a similar, if not mutual, way of thinking as Lincoln. They both are, or were (for Lincoln), trying to look for peace, "to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations." Obama's best way "to protect our security... is to immediately begin to remove our combat troops." This shows how he intends to finish the war, since "There is no solution in Iraq. There never was."




Resources and Quotes:

Online Journal - Obama: New Mission In Iraq...

The New York Times - My plan for Iraq


American Civil War - Abraham Lincoln


Abraham Lincoln Second Inaugural Address

1 comment:

Jacob Harris said...

I feel like you did a good job of connecting the two wars through the quotes you used, and the way that you word the explanations are very good and definitive of what you meant. I do feel as if you are missing a thesis, but I might be mistaken.