By Bill O'Reilly
As author of the book "Killing
Lincoln," I know a little bit about the nation's first Republican
president and the current President Barack Obama knows something about
Mr. Lincoln as well.
In fact, he often cites old Abe in his speeches. Here is an example yesterday in Ohio.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: I believe that the free market is the greatest force for economic
progress in human history. I agree that everybody has personal
responsibility for their own lives. Everybody has got to work hard.
Nothing is ever handed to us.
But I also agree with our first
Republican president, a guy named Abraham Lincoln, who said that
"through government, we should be able to do together what we can't do
as well on our own."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'REILLY:
Interesting sound bite. Number one, Mr. Obama is responding to criticism from this program and other places that he is a social justice guy who
wants government to somewhat control individual outcomes. The President
denies that but there is no question that his administration has
embraced the entitlement culture spending trillions of taxpayer dollars
on it.
Now, what Mr. Obama said about Abraham Lincoln is also
very interesting. We should do together what we cannot do as well on our own. Ok. What did Mr. Lincoln actually mean by that? Let's take
slavery, for example. No American could defeat that on his or her own.
We had to fight a war for emancipation. Americans in the north had to
band together to defeat pro-slavery forces. That's a legitimate function of the federal government. Is it not? Of course it is.
Now, I
believe President Obama would say that a just society is what Abraham
Lincoln stood for. And that's true. But collective justice is far
different than individual justice. All of us get hosed in life. Nobody
escapes unharmed. The federal government can't alter that reality. We
will pay for our mistakes and for the bad things people do to us.
What President Obama does not seem to understand but Abraham Lincoln did is
the limitations of the bureaucracy. If the President continues spending
the way he has in the past, he'll bankrupt the country. Is that justice
for all? Economic chaos is not far away. And that is what this year's
presidential election will be about.
Unlike some of you, I
believe Mr. Obama is a sincere man. But I do not believe he understands
economics. And I don't think he lives in the real world. But he should.
He should.
For years Barack Obama worked on the south side of
Chicago. He saw millions of dollars poured into that neighborhood. And
he saw the money did very little to improve the lives of the people
there.
In fact, the south side of Chicago is worse now than it's ever been. But President Obama has his story and he is sticking to it.
But Abraham Lincoln's story, that's another matter.
And that's "The Memo."
Pinheads & Patriots
As you know, airline security driving a lot of folks crazy, and in the
case of 49-year-old John Brennan, you can take that literally.
Brennan got fed up with the TSA in Portland, Oregon, and got naked.
JOHN BRENNAN, GOT NAKED IN AIRLINE SECURITY: They had actually already
patted me down and were testing the residue from that pat-down. I had to ask what was going on. They were not very informative about what was
going on.
And at the point I found out I tested positive for
nitrates, which are an explosive, I decided the best way to show them
that I'm not carrying a bomb is to take off my clothes. They get to
any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to:
oreilly@foxnews.com.
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