Lincoln and the president-elect
Re “The myth of ‘Rivals,’ ” Opinion, Nov. 18
Thank you for publishing Matthew Pinsker’s wise caution on comparing the president-elect’s Cabinet choices with Abraham Lincoln’s “Team of Rivals.” Comparing Lincoln’s perplexing friendship with antislavery Congressman Owen Lovejoy to Barack Obama’s baffling alliance with Hillary Rodham Clinton could provide more hopeful possibilities.
In both situations, the president recognized the political strength of the other’s more liberal constituency, the effectiveness of their skills and the extent of their personal contacts, while being well aware of a few basic differences in style and policy.
Lovejoy’s trust in Lincoln’s “ultimate” goals and his appreciation of the realities of the day enabled him to put his loyalty to the president first and become an effective bridge to the antislavery Radical Republicans in Congress. Lincoln’s trust in Lovejoy’s integrity and earnestness brought him to write of Lovejoy that their relationship was one of “increasing respect and esteem” and that “it would scarcely wrong any other to say he was my most generous friend.”
May the same be able to be said of Hillary!
William F. Moore
DeKalb, Ill.
The writer is co-editor of “His Brother’s Blood; Speeches and Writings of Owen Lovejoy 1838-64.”
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