"Of course presidents lie"

[Rob Wick]

Mott's comment is good sound-bite, but ridiculous history. I'm not going to get into a discussion over whether a lie of omission is the same as a lie of commission, but her comment that Lincoln lied about his views on political equality for the black is absolute nonsense. To call Lincoln Machiavellian seems unnecessarily pejorative. I prefer the term politically shrewd. And to say that Lincoln "had to lie to get people to follow him" is specious. Any politician who doesn't recognize the limits of belief where the voters are concerned soon finds him or herself an ex-politician. Of course, Lincoln wasn't always "Honest Abe" in his political machinations, but as Otto Von Bismarck supposedly said, "one who likes laws or sausage should never watch either being made."

Lincoln personally felt that whites would never allow blacks to experience complete equality because racism in America was too strongly encoded in the national psyche. Regardless of whether or not he personally believed in the equality of whites and blacks, he knew that without public acceptance, nothing could ever be accomplished. Look at Lincoln's speech in which Booth, Herold and Powell were in attendance at the end of the war. Even then, Lincoln didn't propose suffrage for every black, only "the very intelligent, and on those who serve our cause as soldiers."

In his October 16, 1854 speech in Peoria, Lincoln said "Free them, and make them politically and socially, our equals? My own feelings will not admit of this; and if mine would, we well know that those of the great mass of white people will not." Lincoln was not lying. Even though Allen Guelzo disagrees, I think most historians have accepted that Lincoln's views on race, like his views on religion, evolved over time. If Lincoln lied about anything, he lied to Horace Greeley in his response to the "Prayer of Twenty Millions" editorial when he made the "my paramount objective" statement. He knew when he was answering it, the Emancipation Proclamation was, in his mind, a fait accompli. And by definition, that was a lie of omission.

Mott's comments need more context before I would give them any credibility. To be fair, she might have provided more context and the CNN producer may have deleted it. My personal experience with television reporters has never been favorable.

Some politicians do indeed lie. Others withhold all the details of a decision or proposal. Some may believe a lie of omission is still a lie, but there's nothing in the Constitution which requires a president to divulge all his secrets.

Best
Rob