Lincoln Memorial statue

Wednesday was the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s death. It’s hard to spend too much time reflecting on Lincoln; I use the first thing he ever published, comparing two infrastructure projects in a local election campaign, as an example of policy analysis avant la lettre , and he just gets better and better from there. Even David Brooks says he becomes a better man spending quiet time in the Lincoln Memorial.

Lincoln Memorial statue

The second inaugural is one of great works of public discourse; terse, just, humane. I think French's portrait nails it: brilliant, menschlich , determined; open hand, closed fist.  Lincoln makes everyone reach a little higher.

I listened the grooves off this wonderful cantata when I was a kid, and I’m pleased to find that someone has posted it here , here , and here . It was performed live, after 50 years on the shelf, in 2009.

There’s no video; remember how to make your own pictures in your own head? Take a half-hour, just to be sure we don’t forget what a real American is.

Cross-posted from The Reality-Based Community (tag line: Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts).