Lincoln’s second inaugural.
http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/blabe2.htm

Obama’s second inaugural.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/21/us/politics/obamas-second-inaugural-speech.html?pagewanted=all

Barack Obama made the claim a few weeks ago that he had never compared himself to Abraham Lincoln. He may be right, I have never heard of him making that comparison verbally. However, it seems like he has gone to great lengths to encourage others to make the comparison for him, such as quoting Lincoln’s second inaugural speech in his own.
Since Obama invoked Lincoln during his speech, perhaps we should accommodate him and look at a comparison of their speeches.

Lincoln spoke on March 4th, 1865. As he did, Sherman’s Army was pushing into North Carolina, bringing the pincers of the Union armies closer and closer together. Grant was extending his siege lines around Petersburg, his army would break through three weeks later and capture Petersburg, Richmond and Lee in the process, finally bringing the war to an end.
Lincoln spoke as the war was still being fought, but it was obvious to all that the second great trial of our nation would end soon. Most men who found themselves standing in his position would have been joyful. His leadership had been reconfirmed by the people, his armies nearly victorious and his name surely enshrined forever in the history of the world.  Yet Lincoln didn’t sing his own praises, he didn’t highlight the sacrifices of the soldiers of the Republic or despair over the scars that would pain so many of his fellow citizens for the rest or their lives.
Lincoln’s speech was focused on one thing. God.
He accepted that the nation had been committing a great sin since its inception, the guilt over that sin had brought the country to war and it was forced to sacrifice its blood in atonement. He brought the nation’s focus on the belief that they were participants in a fate controlled from above, they had committed the acts of sin and would pay the price for their failures as a nation.
His speech is remembered not for its inspiring lines, its calls to action or delight over the achievements of his time. It is memorable because it accepts fate, pain and sacrifice as part of life. It reminded the nation that victory of arms is not a noble goal, but freedom and justice is what they should strive towards; that the generation that listened to him would not be judged by history and the Almighty for their worldly accomplishments, but their charity of spirit.

Barack Obama attempted to appropriate those ideals expressed by Lincoln to fit his message. Liberty, Freedom, Equality and Responsibility were spoken of often. Yet his use of these words would confuse Lincoln, because when Lincoln spoke of freedom and liberty he meant that each man is entitled to the fruits of his labor, the product produced by his sweat is his own. Liberty means the freedom to go where his legs can carry him and own what his labor can earn. Obama speaks the same words, but they mean different things now. Freedom means a freedom from hardship and the absence of want. The liberty that he speaks of is the escape from the manners of the world, the defiance of fate or responsibility.
Equality does not mean that we all earn the same amounts or achieve the same levels of happiness, it means that we are all given equal opportunity to succeed or fail. The unfortunate truth is that failure is the insurer of equality. It is not that every man receives the chance to succeed, but the fact that every man faces the prospect of failure is what makes equality mean something. To live in a world where equality means we all succeed equally would be to live in a world where responsibility is deferred.

That is the final message Obama’s message: responsibility deferred.

His message is not of a nation of individuals shouldering the burden of struggle, but passing that burden to the government. The government will be the arbiter of what is fair and equal, the government shall bind up our wounds.
These two men’s view of the ways of the world could not be farther apart, Lincoln believed men were flawed and must trust in something greater than themselves. Obama believes if we support him unconditionally, he and the government will solve the problems of mankind.

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