The 5 November 2008 edition of the San Diego Union-Tribune published this by its staff cartoonist, Steve Breen.

We are supposed to think, no doubt, “Aw, Abraham Lincoln would be so proud.”

Bullocks.

Oh, I’m sure old dishonest Abe is beaming. But not because an African-American is now the President-Elect. The Cult of Lincoln (a sect of the Cult of The Strong Executive) would have us believe he’s beaming for that reason, because it is an article of their faith that his whole mission in life was to free slaves and see the black man on a level of equality with whites.

More than 130 years of government propaganda has hidden this fact from the American people by creating a Mythical Lincoln that never existed. Take, for instance, the fact that everyone supposedly knows – that Lincoln was an abolitionist. This would be a surprise to the preeminent Lincoln scholar, Pulitzer prize-winning Lincoln biographer David Donald, who in his 1961 book, Lincoln Reconsidered, wrote that "Lincoln was not an abolitionist." And he wasn’t. He was glad to accept on behalf of the Republican Party any votes from abolitionists, but real abolitionists despised him. William Lloyd Garrison, the most prominent of all abolitionists, concluded that Lincoln "had not a drop of anti-slavery blood in his veins." – Thomas DiLorenzo, here.

Yes, old dishonest Abe is beaming, because although an African-American is going to be in the White House, that is probably a small price to pay to keep in working order the Leviathan, unitary state he (Lincoln) almost single-handedly brought into existence.

The real Abraham Lincoln would probably have preferred McCain, a white man. But I’m sure he would be a fan of President Bush (who he would probably consider rather tame):

The Dictator Lincoln invaded the South without the consent of Congress, as called for in the Constitution; declared martial law; blockaded Southern ports without a declaration of war, as required by the Constitution; illegally suspended the writ of habeas corpus; imprisoned without trial thousands of Northern anti-war protesters, including hundreds of newspaper editors and owners; censored all newspaper and telegraph communication; nationalized the railroads; created three new states without the consent of the citizens of those states in order to artificially inflate the Republican Party’s electoral vote; ordered Federal troops to interfere with Northern elections to assure Republican Party victories; deported Ohio Congressman Clement L. Vallandigham for opposing his domestic policies (especially protectionist tariffs and income taxation) on the floor of the House of Representatives; confiscated private property, including firearms, in violation of the Second Amendment; and effectively gutted the Tenth and Ninth Amendments as well.

[…]

Hundreds of books have been written about Lincoln the humanitarian, a soft and gentle man. But from the very beginning of his administration he intentionally waged a cruel and unbelievably bloody war on civilians as well as soldiers. As early as 1861, Federal soldiers looted, pillaged, raped and plundered their way through Virginia and other Southern states, completely burning to the ground the towns of Jackson and Meridian, Mississippi, Randolph, Tennessee, and others. Historian Jeffrey Rogers Hummel estimates that some 50,000 Southern civilians were killed during the war, and this number, even if it is exaggerated by a multiple of two, most likely includes thousands of slaves. In his March to the Sea, General William Tecumseh Sherman boasted of having destroyed $100 million in private property and that his "soldiers" carried home another $20 million worth.

In his memoirs Sherman wrote that when he met with Lincoln after his March to the Sea was completed, Lincoln was eager to hear the stories of how thousands of Southern civilians, mostly women, children, and old men, were plundered, sometimes murdered, and rendered homeless. Lincoln, according to Sherman, laughed almost uncontrollably at the stories. Even Sherman biographer Lee Kennett, who writes very favorably of the general, concluded that had the Confederates won the war, they would have been "justified in stringing up President Lincoln and the entire Union high command for violation of the laws of war, specifically for waging war against noncombatants."

In the end, if it takes a black man to secure the continued absence of federalism so be it. So, yes, Breen is right: Lincoln would be proud. But if Breen thinks it’s because we have a black President-elect, then he is tragically mistaken.
_______________________________
Note: If you didn’t know those things about Lincoln remember that the victors write the history books. The not-so-federal government which Lincoln created (the victor) controls education in this country. Some of us would like to see the U. S. Department of Education go the way of the dodo bird. It’s a conflict of interest sort of thing. Ignorance is very useful to statists.