"A WORD FROM ABE: 'I'M MIGHTY PROUD' "

A Word From Abe:'I'm Mighty Proud'
By A. Lincoln
(as told to Darryl Levings) Mcclatchy Newspapers
printed in the Albuquerque Journal Friday Nov. 7, 2008

A Word From Abe:'I'm Mighty Proud'
I've got to tell you that I'm mighty proud.
This business took a mite longer than it should have. I always said that I walked slowly, but I never walked backward. Well, I'm afraid this country has taken some steps back, but here we are finally, with young Mr. Obama ready to move into the place.
That's what I called the presidency.
I confess to a bit of puzzlement about how this accomplishment occurred through the auspices of the Democratic Party. When I departed this world, it was pretty much a given that the Negro supported us Republicans and vice versa. I wouldn't have bet even a penny - and I do appreciate my likeness on them - that they would ever be comfortable settled in a party that once harbored Copperheads.
Now, that reminds me of a story. Putting together my government, I suggested the names of some of the lawyers with whom I rode circuit in the early days. Judge Gillespie was down from Chicago and he expressed astonishment.
"But Abe," he protested, "those lawyers are Democrats."
"I know it," I said, "but I would rather have Democrats I know than Republicans I don't."
And that is the way of it. Some of these Republicans, I just don't know anymore.
Now it's true that I didn't foresee this back then. The question of the colored race was one that many people had to grapple with. In one of my debates with Douglas, I expressed doubt that the two races could ever live together in social and political equality.
Better to be silent and be thought a fool, I used to say, than to speak and remove all doubt. Well, that time, to use Stanton's words, I reckon I was a "dammed" fool.
So I understand the criticism for not immediately freeing those in bondage in Union held parts of Missouri and Kentucky.
But you may not recall that my Emancipation Proclamation prompted hot talk that the Western states would secede as well. So, I can only beg your pardon and plead that those were troubled times when it was not clear how our nation could stand
I like to think I gave my measure toward this end, but I've been given too much credit. When Richmond finally fell, those poor Negroes there called me "Father Abraham" and knelt. No, I told them, and I tell you, it was all so much bigger than me.
To be continued.................................................