#1,065: Abe Lincoln Weighs in on '47, Political Courage, and Congressional Republicans

January 26, 2026 / Kurt F. Stone

(Introductory note: those lines which are both italicized and in bold are actual quotes from Abraham Lincoln)

Abe Lincoln here with a few thoughts on ‘47, the current POTUS, political courage, next month’s State of the Union Address, and a couple of jibes about this and that. Back in my day, the State of the Union wasn’t called an “address”; it was a message hand-delivered from the White House to the House Chamber, and then read aloud by the House Sergeant-at-Arms to both Houses of Congress. If memory serves me well, up until my time as POTUS (March 4, 1861 - April 15, 1865), only Presidents Washington and John Adams (#s 1 and 2) had delivered the SOTU (my god, how you moderns love your acronyms!) in person. According to my heavenly neighbor, that great political historian, Thomas Woodrow Wilson, it was he who revived the custom of actually going on over to the House chamber and giving the address in person. That was in 1913 . . . and ever since, it has been a rather gala happening.

I thank my stars there were no such things as television or cable in my day; with my face, the camera would likely have shattered into a thousand pieces. I guess I had what would eventually be referred to as “a face for radio” . . . long before it had been invented. And by the way, when my friend Stephen Douglas once accused me of being “two-faced” during one of our debates, I quickly riposted: “If I had another face, do you really think I’d use this one?” Ah well, true success comes to the one who is serious about the task without taking him- or herself seriously.

Up here in the great beyond, we just got word that ‘47 will be delivering his SOTU on Tuesday, February 24. As soon as we learned this, a spiritual coterie of our historic group gathered together, wondering what he would have to say. As originally mandated by the Constitution (Article II, Section 3), the President would, "from time to time, give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.” According to my friend Thomas Jefferson (with whom I shared a glass of wine just the other day), this clause established the President's duty to report on the nation's condition, and propose legislation for the Congress to pass.

After watching the ”Sage of Monticello” take a sip of a 1787 Chateau Lafite Rothschild and delicately wipe the corners of his mouth, I asked him “Tom, do you really think that ‘47 will live up to the Constitution’s directive? he smiled, took a breath and softly said: “Not a chance under heaven. He will speak for hours on end, proclaim that the economy is better than at any time in our history; that America is back to being the most respected nation on earth, and let one and all know of a certainty that he has fulfilled every single promise made during his last Inaugural Address January 20th.” How my friend didn’t break out into a derisive laugh is beyond me.

Eyeing my wine goblet (I fear that my taste runs more towards an occasional swig of Kentucky sipping whiskey) I added: T’wer I betting man, I would make you a wager that he will get in a least 30 mentions of Joe Biden and how he stole the 2024 election, and at least a combined 45 minutes of the most obvious falsehoods and fabrications since Odysseus. I mean, what Odysseus is to classical literature, ‘47 is to American political history. And do remember, dear Mr. Jefferson that I, unlike you, messrs Adams, pere et fils, Madison, Monroe, Tyler, Polk, Buchanan, Hayes, Garfield, Arthur and T. Roosevelt, I never got the chance to read it in the original. Or, as I once wrote about a politician of my own time, He can compress the most words into the smallest ideas of any man I ever met.

Here in the world beyond, many of us - presidents, as well as a bipartisan grouping of senators, representatives, political journalists and historians - gather together and discuss what’s happening in the world we once inhabited. I freely admit that the overwhelming preponderance of us are neither impressed nor terribly optimistic. One of the things which really gets our goat is how much political silence greets political violence. I mean my party, the G.O.P. the one which historians (whether correctly or not) claim I created as a voice for those who opposed slavery, is today made up largely of a group of mutes; men and women who whether out of fear, cowardice or downright dastardliness refuse to challenge their leader even under the most unfathomable of circumstances. He wants to take over Greenland? Few say anything. How’s about a “Are you out of your mind?” from someone - anyone - in authority. He unilaterally creates tariffs and then takes credit for putting ungodly sums back into the pockets of American taxpayers (an out-and-out lie) and not a peep is heard. He pardons people lawfully convicted of crimes both larcenous and lethal, only to see them rearrested . . . and his partisans sit on their thumbs. Well I’ll tell you. Long, long before any of these folks’ great-grandparents were born I told anyone who would listen that To sin by silence when they should protest, makes cowards of men. Then too, please, please get it into your thick skulls that their job can be precisely summed up in 21 words: Be with a leader when he is right, stay with him when he is still right, but, leave him when he is wrong.

Then there’s all those so-called “born-again” Christians who loudly and proudly proclaim that they follow the word of the Lord . . . you know things like “Feed the poor”, “clothe the naked” and “care for the sick” but instead use their Bible not as a guidepost for goodness, but rather as a billy club for the inflicting of pain. Yeah, I know, no one has ever figured out precisely what church I prayed in, though as a wee sprat, my father and mother raised me up a Baptist. Although I likely spent more time with Jewish people than any other president in American history, my religious philosophy could be summed up thusly: When I do good, I feel good; when I do bad, I feel bad. That’s my religion. I only wish the vast number of Republicans in Congress and the various states could live by the same 17 words.

And so, from way up above, I encourage you, the men and women of the United States to pay close attention to what your current POTUS has to say; not just on February 24, but each and every day of the week . . . or for him, each and every hour on the hour. Do your best to separate fact from fiction, for as I have long been wont to say, I believe it is an established maxim in morals that he who makes an assertion without knowing whether it is true or false, is guilty of falsehood; and the accidental truth of the assertion, does not justify or excuse him.

And last, I beg you, remember these two salient bits of wisdom:

“Stand with anybody that stands right, stand with him while he is right,and part with him when he goes wrong.” and:
“Elections belong to the people. It's their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters.”

Comment 0 Likes