Lincoln’s Class in Politics

Al Hunt: “Before scheduling any budget negotiations at the White House, on Capitol Hill or at Camp David, President Barack Obama and congressional leaders should go see Steven Spielberg’s classic new film, Lincoln.”

“It’s the best movie about Washington politics I’ve seen. The centerpiece is the American icon, Abraham Lincoln; it brilliantly captures him doing what politicians are supposed to do, and today too often avoid: compromising, calculating, horse trading, dealing and preventing the perfect from becoming the enemy of a good objective.”

Mark Salter: “The film succeeds where others have failed: revealing in the story of
Lincoln the politician, in his appearance and personality, the
hard-pressed faith in humanity necessary to believe that any nation ‘conceived in liberty . . . could long endure.'”