I watched the movie, Lincoln. The biopic covers Lincoln's last few months, when his life was fully committed to steering the 13th Amendment through Congress. He succeeded in getting 100% of the Republicans and 23% of the Democrats to vote for the amendment. Lincoln confronting his cabinet with the moral imperative to abolish slavery, making his own personal sacrifices to achieve that end, and his political ingenuity are all a timeless inspiration.
In January 2003, I had the picture above taken of me in front of the 19-foot Lincoln statue in Washington, DC. Last week, as I watched the movie, Daniel Day-Lewis appeared as if he was the Washington, DC statue coming to life! Day-Lewis is nominated for Oscar and other awards. (Added Feb 25: Day-Lewis wins the Oscar. This is his 3rd Oscar for the Lead Actor category and no one else has done this before!)
Here's the important question ...
Can presidents today emulate Lincoln's leadership?
David McCullough, who has researched and written about Truman and John Adams, first defines a great president as someone with the ability to lift our sights higher and to get us to make necessary sacrifices. Then he says, "Nobody can do that job totally anymore."