Today marks the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address. As usual, the Beltway is stuck navel-gazing, debating whether President Obama was right not to come to the Pennsylvania town on this important day.
For a politician who invited comparisons to America’s greatest president even before he was sworn in — Obama copied Lincoln’s train ride to Washington and took the oath of office on Lincoln’s Bible — the decision is surprising. Let us give him credit: His non-appearance means the focus will be where it ought to be — on Lincoln’s words.
Lincoln’s address at Gettysburg is at once a lesson in national identity, the history of freedom and presidential oratory.
In 10 sentences, our 16th president described the Declaration’s promise of liberty for all, noted the survival of this promise remained an open question and dedicated the new cemetery to the men who gave their own lives so the promise would live.
With the benefit of hindsight, Lincoln’s words remain eloquent but can seem obvious.
That was not true when he spoke them. Gettysburg was then a fresh battlefield, where more Americans had died in one battle than we have lost in Afghanistan and Iraq combined. The world in which Lincoln delivered those words, moreover, was one where democracies were small and few while monarchies were rich, strong and many.
There was a day when every American child memorized the Gettysburg Address.
With good reason. A century and a half later, Lincoln’s 272 words have yet to be surpassed as a summary of the American experiment in self-government, the sacrifices required to sustain it and the hope it still stirs among all those who cherish liberty.