Is OBama-Lincoln reincarnated?

[Liz Rosenthal]

I don't know the answer to the question, but there are some interesting coincidences:

**They both come from Illinois.
**They both served several terms in the Illinois state legislature (Lincoln in the House and Obama in the State Senate).
**They both served in Congress for one term (Lincoln in the House, Obama in the Senate, though only for the first four years of his six-year term).
**They both took a circuitous route to end up in Illinois (Lincoln by way of Kentucky and Indiana, Obama by way of Hawaii, California and New York).
**They both lost a parent at a young age (Lincoln's mother died when he was nine; Obama's father left him and his mother when Obama was still a baby).
**They were both self-made men, although, unlike Lincoln, Obama did graduate from high school and earn college and law school degrees. But Obama did not come from money and did not have any connections; in that sense, he made his way himself.
**Lincoln was a genius, Obama may be a genius (he is highly intelligent and an intellectual, at the very least).
**Both men won reelection as president.
**They're both tall and skinny.

One huge dissimilarity is that Lincoln's wife probably had psychiatric issues which manifested themselves publicly; Obama's wife seems very well-adjusted and stable!

The story of Obama's presidency is still being written, so it's hard to say what his legacy will be. We already know what Lincoln's legacy is.