What Obama Learned from Lincoln

President Obama picked a pretty good mentor: New Yorker editor David Remnick's new book The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama reveals the extent of Obama’s desire to emulate Lincoln. Evidently, in the spring of 2007, Obama met with Doris Kearns Goodwin, the author of a book on Lincoln called Team of Rivals. The two talked on the phone about what Obama admired about the 16th president—his ability to weather defeat, own up to mistakes, and restrain fierce emotions, especially in public. Of a later visit to Obama's Senate office, Goodwin remembered "The most interesting thing he said was 'I have no desire to be one of those Presidents who are just on the list,'" adding that "He said, 'I really want to be a President who makes a difference.' There was the sense that he wanted to be big. He didn't want to be Millard Fillmore or Franklin Pierce."