By DAVID HERBERT
(Anne Ryan-Pool/Getty Images)
There's a Lincoln biography under President-elect Barack Obama's arm, and it's not the one you think.
On Saturday night, the president-elect was photographed carrying Fred Kaplan's Lincoln: The Biography of a Writer as he left the Chicago home of friend and booster Penny Pritzker. The book traces Abraham Lincoln's self-education, from his love of the Bible and Shakespeare to his development as a writer and avid reader.
Kaplan, who said he supported Hillary Rodham Clinton's candidacy but was quickly won over by Obama when he became the nominee, was "thrilled" when he saw photographs of his book tucked under the president-elect's arm. He noted that for all the Obama-Lincoln comparisons, their educations couldn't have been more different: Honest Abe was almost entirely self-educated, while Obama attended the nation's best schools, from the Punahou School in Hawaii to Columbia University to Harvard Law. But that's not the end of the story, Kaplan added.
"Obama is, like Lincoln was, an obsessive reader, who through his years of his education has read above and beyond what was required of him during his excellent American education," said Kaplan, who is an English professor emeritus at Queens College.
Obama's interest with our 16th president is well cataloged. Doris Kearns Goodwin's Lincoln biography, Team of Rivals, is one of Obama's favorite books -- and by tapping Clinton for secretary of State, Obama is following in his fellow Illinoisan's footsteps. On his Facebook page, he lists Lincoln's collected writings as some of his favorite reading.
While political communication has moved from being almost exclusively text-based in Lincoln's day to a visual and aural media landscape, Kaplan hopes Obama will take a page from Lincoln's playbook and continue to be interested in the power of words.
"He has a solemn compact with the American people to use language to let people know he is speaking the truth about the needs of the country."
And what would Kaplan like to see Obama reading after Lincoln is no longer on his night table? Mark Twain's "Corn-Pone Opinions" -- an essay that encourages political observers to follow the money.
"Mark Twain could very easily explain why Henry Paulson has been putting money where he's been putting it," Kaplan said. "Where you come from and who you are explains a lot about what you do with your money."
Share via
Comments