Mitch McConnell, the Anti-Lincoln (‘U.S. News & World Report’)

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In the summer of 1864, Abraham Lincoln’s re-election prospects were not promising, writes Charles Wheelan ’88, a senior lecturer in economics and a policy fellow at the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for Public Policy, in a U.S. News & World Report opinion piece.

However, writes Wheelan, “Lincoln's chief concern was for the future of the Union. The election of 1864 was bigger than him or his party. If he were to lose, he felt it his duty (and that of his cabinet members) to work for the success of the administration that succeeded him.

“Does that sound familiar? No, it does not.

“We know how Mitch McConnell responded in broadly similar (if less dire) circumstances: He vowed to make Barack Obama a one-term president. He was essentially wishing ill on the country to advance the narrow interests of his own party.”

Read the full opinion piece, published 3/28/16 by U.S. News & World Report.

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