From Gettysburg to Grant Park: Echoes of Lincoln in the Campaign Rhetoric of Barack Obama

Obama's 2008 campaign rhetoric consciously borrows from Lincoln's discourse of national unity and racial equality in the Gettysburg Address and his House Divided and Cooper Union speeches. Lincoln is invoked as the mythic saviour of the Union and guardian of liberty while his 'limited views on race' are disregarded. Obama's 'Announcement for President' and 'A More Perfect Union speeches' are analysed as examples of how the memory of Lincoln is co-opted to create cultural reference points that provide a framework for Obama's own appeals for national unity and racial harmony.