Politics by Abraham

I’ve been reading Doris Kearns Goodwin’s bestselling political history of the Lincoln administration, Team of Rivals. Most would tag Lincoln as the emancipator, the war leader, the orator. Kearns rather casts Lincoln as the politician – the master politician. Examining Lincoln’s correspondence and conversations within the inner circles of his government, Kearns uncovers the sixteenth president’s ability to formulate effective policy by shrewdly manipulating a cabinet of strong men and political rivals – of each other and of the president.

Politician has become a bad word, hasn’t it? Along with its root, politics. It’s not, of course. Politics and politicians are the foundation of democracy; there is none of the last without the first two.

Politicians do nothing more – or less – than represent us. I mean that in both ways, being both our constitutional representatives, and representative of who we are, how we are. We’re venal. So are they. We’re narrow. So are they. We are willing to subordinate reasoned discourse to score points. So of course are they.

But politics can be – and should be – an honorable pursuit. Only a few sully it. Many more simply lack the intellect required of statecraft.

A politician barely elected. In fact, not expected to be elected – or re-elected. Hated by many. Reviled by most of the press. Believed by many to have deviously dragged the nation into a ruinous war. Ran a war policy criticized by serving and retired generals, two of whom who ran for president against him. Riots against the war, the military, and the draft that had to be put down by military force. Criticized for his lack of social graces, and manners, and intellect. Abraham Lincoln. Master politician.