Will George W. Bush Be Remembered like Abraham Lincoln?

With so much emphasis on what a bad president George Bush is, and the recent firing of Don Imus over a racist comment regarding the black women on the Rutgers basketball team. I decided to take a look at Abraham Lincoln.

There is no doubt that George Bush thinks what he is doing in the Middle East will have an everlasting effect on America long after all of us are dead and gone. Imus' comments brought to light the fact that people still say and do stupid things when it comes to race.

Almost 150 years ago Abraham Lincoln had to handle a internal civil war that was far more than name calling and shouting. This was a dispute that could have torn the country in half.

With his leadership America found it's way through a civil war and then to begin to heal as one nation again. One of the little known leadership styles that Lincoln used to his advantage in the organization of his presidency was his appointment of talented national figures from opposing political parties to be part of his cabinet.

Today Bush is facing the same challenge of how to work with Democrats to solve the challenges of the war in Iraq. Lincoln felt he needed advice from the opposing viewpoint to keep from having his presidency from becoming one sided.

Bush is only coming to realize that a Congress controlled by his opposition, and elected by a majority of Americans, is going to be important to how his presidency is remembered years from now.

Lincoln's opposition to slavery was his greatest contribution to the history of America and indeed to world history as well. By issuing the Emancipation Proclamation to make the end of slavery permanent, Lincoln followed that up with the passing of the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments which made permanent the freedoms that were hard fought and won in the Civil War.

The freedom that was won for so many black Americans in that war forever made Abraham Lincoln one of our greatest presidents of all time.