Obama and Lincoln

It's mid-November and Christmas will be here before you know it. The hallway is as finished as its gonna get and there is even a (pink) Christmas tree decorated in that room.




The tree? $5.00 at an estate sale in Bluff Park years ago.

The Barack Obama drawing? An original by Steve Shepard of Gautier, MS. Shepard is often seen at area art shows with his snappy partisan work.

The Abraham Lincoln portrait? A signed print by Walter Tittle (1883-1966). Tittle was known for his portraits of presidents. Any art historians out there?

Since Obama seems to be modeling his upcoming presidency after Abraham Lincoln, it's only fitting that their portraits should hang close by each other. I also have a print with JFK and Lincoln's portraits together that needs framing, that could go there.

Obama read Doris Kearns Goodwin's book, Team of Rivals, about Lincoln and spoke about it during his campaign. Here, after a brief excerpt from Obama's campaign, Goodwin talks with David Gregory about Obama and how this strategy can benefit him, based on Lincoln's history.

More power to ya, Barack.

I haven't read Goodwin's book, but I did read The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln by C. A. Tripp which presents evidence of Lincoln's homosexuality. Among other things, Lincoln shared a bed with an army captain while serving in the White House while Mrs. Lincoln was away. Sort of puts a new twist on that whole "Lincoln bedroom" thing, doesn't it? The book's in my library, if anyone wants to borrow.

And Lincoln wasn't the only president that had thing for guys. More on that later.