W. is no Lincoln

I am watching the History Channel's production of "Lincoln" that aired last night (thank goodness for VCR). So far, there are two things that are resonating with me.

First: "Mediocre Presidents hide from the bad news, good Presidents seek it out."

Second, a comparison was being drawn to how Lincoln did a lot of things that we're dealing with today. During the civil war, habeas corpus was suspended, newspapers were censored, and southern sympathizers were improsioned without charge for years. Sound a bit familar?

Gore Vidal cleared up the one important difference - the civil war had a real enemy and the very survival of the union was in jeopardy. However, the war on a metaphor is not a real war. "Declaring a war on terror is like declaring war on dandruff."

They're going to re-run this Sunday night. Check local listings - watch it.