Towards the end of 2006, after the president realized he should at least get to know the leaders of the new Democratic majority a little, Bush welcomed the leading Democratic lawmakers to the White House for a chat. According to participants, Bush launched into an explanation of why he’s just like Harry Truman.
Instead, Bush began his talk by comparing himself to President Harry S Truman, who launched the Truman Doctrine to fight communism, got bogged down in the Korean War and left office unpopular.
Bush said that “in years to come they realized he was right and then his doctrine became the standard for America,” recalled Senate Majority Whip-elect Richard Durbin, D-Ill. “He’s trying to position himself in history and to justify those who continue to stand by him, saying sometimes if you’re right you’re unpopular, and be prepared for criticism.”
Durbin said he challenged Bush’s analogy, reminding him that Truman had the NATO alliance behind him and negotiated with his enemies at the United Nations. Durbin said that’s what the Iraq Study Group is recommending that Bush do now – work more with allies and negotiate with adversaries on Iraq. Bush, Durbin said, “reacted very strongly. He got very animated in his response” and emphasized that he is “the commander in chief.”
That was 13 months ago. The good news is, Bush no longer believes he’s a modern-day Truman. The bad news is, he now believes he’s a modern-day Lincoln.
The White House extended “unprecedented access” to Fox News for a documentary on Bush’s first seven years in office. (I wonder how they came to pick that network above the others?) FNC’s Bret Baier, whose hour-long piece will air on Sunday, noticed that Bush repeatedly linked himself to the nation’s 16th president.
“We talked a lot about President Lincoln. And there’s going to be a lot of people out there who watch this hour and say, is he trying to equate himself with Lincoln?
“I tell you what — he thinks about Lincoln and the tough times that he had during the Civil War. 600,000 dead. The country essentially hated him when he was leaving office.
“And the President reflects on that. This is a President who is really reflecting on his place in history.”
There was no indication that Baier was kidding.
Given the absurdity of the comparison, it’s tempting to just laugh it off altogether, but Faiz tracked down a good item in Salon from Garret Epps, who scrutinized the differences between Bush and Lincoln the last time the White House drew this connection.
…Lincoln had none of Bush’s obstinacy and egotism. He scorned yes men, and surrounded himself with Cabinet officials better known than he was, refusing to purge even those actively working against his own political interests. He had no personal vanity at all (when a political opponent accused him of being “two-faced,” Lincoln responded, “If I had two faces, would I be wearing this one?”). The historical imagination rebels at the very idea of his swaggering around in the cavalry equivalent of Bush’s flight suit. He was always ready to sit down with his adversaries, favored compromise whenever possible and never held a grudge. “With malice toward none, with charity toward all” was for Lincoln more than a rhetorical flourish; it was the key to his greatness.
Most important, Lincoln was a lawyer. It is hard to find any sign that Lincoln thought himself above the law. He had none of Bush’s scorn for procedures and rights. He used executive authority in an emergency — and always dutifully reported to Congress and asked for its ratification as soon as a new session began. He restricted civil liberties temporarily, and without enthusiasm — he once compared his suspension of habeas corpus to the drugs doctors give to induce vomiting. Unlike this administration — which will not ask for legal authority even when it knows it will receive it — Lincoln never did anything to prove a point. He didn’t have an authoritarian bone in his lanky body. His objective was victory for the Union, not power for himself.
George W. Bush is Lincoln the way Dan Quayle is Jack Kennedy.
Bush is delusional for making the comparison — and Fox News is no better for airing it as if it were a legitimate point.