KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI: AUGUST 20, 2008, INTERVIEW WITH RICHARD LAWRENCE MILLER

Mr. Miller is a historian and Lincoln biographer. His first two books in a projected four-volume series on Lincoln, covering his birth to his nomination for president, are already published. Here, Miller answers questions concerning Lincoln, Senator and presumptive Democratic nominee for president Barack Obama, and the up-coming presidential election.

In your research, which began in 1990, what’s the thing that surprised you most about Lincoln?

Actually I think the thing that surprised me most was how ruthless he could be. When he was just absolutely determined to get something done he would do whatever was necessary to do it. Now, he wouldn’t do more than was necessary to do it. But, he was not Mr. Goody Two-Shoes. Mr. Nicey Nice doesn’t get to be president.

And when did this ruthlessness first manifest itself?

Well, I think it was when he was a state legislator. And various programs he was interested in. Or trying to help somebody win an election or win an election himself. They call him ‘Honest Abe’ but he wasn’t beyond spinning things to his advantage, to make an opponent really look terrible, or to make someone’s idea look really terrible. Or to just be a really tough character.

Now see he himself was a tough character. He grew-up on the frontier. He’d be involved in fights and stuff like that. He was physically a powerful person. He was about six four. Very muscular. Even up to the day of his death he had not weakened a bit. A cabinet member was surprised to see all the muscles rippling on Lincoln’s body after he was in bed after he was shot. So Lincoln was a tough character, he was a good character, but he was a tough guy.

Obama?

When Lincoln was elected president he had a couple years in Congress and had served as a state legislator. But he had never sponsored any important Federal legislation. His record as a state legislator is actually that he helped wreck the state’s finances with some impractical programs that bankrupted the state but accomplished nothing. And he really didn’t have that much to show for accomplishing anything in public life.

But he could give one heck of a speech. And he would attract big crowds. And he would inspire people to work for ideals. Particularly, Lincoln would press the point of what he thought was the key thing in the American Revolution -- that everybody had equal rights. Nobody was entitled to special treatment. And he would inspire people to look ahead to a brighter future, and to work for a brighter future that they thought hadn’t even been possible. He would make people visualize it.

And Obama I think is very similar in that regard. You know, you can’t really point to decades of experience in public life, great programs that he sponsored. But he inspires people to look within themselves to try to achieve things that they never even thought were achievable.

What does it say about the country that there is a hunger for that now?

Well, I think it tells us that people are feeling frustrated with being stagnant. They see the same problems year after year. No matter what we try to do things don’t seem to get any better, in many respects.

One more comment on the rhetoric ... One thing about Obama’s rhetoric or any president’s rhetoric is that one of the most important talents that a president can have is being able to get people rallied and inspired and work on things. So people talk about how Obama’s good at giving a speech and its all just words. Well, OK, it’s all just words but it makes people want to do things. And I think that’s a tremendous talent to have in a national leader.

We’re in Missouri, Kansas City, you live here, about the middle of the country, is Missouri going to go blue in November, is the country going to elect Obama?

Missouri in recent decades has been a republican state as far as presidential elections go. And whether that’s gonna change this time it’s hard to say. Whether the country will elect Obama? Well the polls of course showing the popular vote that he’s ahead. But what counts of course is the Electoral College. And how that’s going to shake out I don’t know.

I think part of the problem too is if there’s election fraud again. And I’m convinced there was in 2004 and there was in 2000. Is that fraud going to be fought when it happens?

And I was really disappointed that the Democratic nominees didn’t push it harder than they did, trying to investigate that and make it right. And so it’s going to be another question are there going to be some close states in 2008. And if they’re close are the exit polls match what the actually totals are from the machines inside, the computerized machines. And if there’s suspicions that there’s fraud going on is Obama going to fight it? Or is he going to lie down like Kerry did? And I’m hoping that Obama would fight it. But, of course, we won’t know unless it happens. And maybe we’ll be lucky and that issue won’t even arise.

Speaking of fighting, and since we’re speaking of Lincoln, Lincoln was shot, assassinated, what do you think the chances are of somebody taking a shot at Obama?

I’m convinced that there’s more than one person stalking Obama right now. That there are enough crazy vicious racists in this country or people who are mad about other things, who are frightened of Obama, that they want the man dead. Whether anything will actually happen I have no idea. But I’m convinced there are people that want to make something happen. And that any security concerns about Obama are for real.

How important do you think Obama’s up-coming speech at the DNC will be to him winning the election?

Well I think the speech is going to be quite important, at least as important as a speech can be, in that it’s one of the speeches that most people interested in politics are going to listen to. And so there’ll be a lot of exposure to that speech.

I doubt that he’s going to change anyone’s mind, or swing someone around. But what he is going to do is inspire people who already share his beliefs to go out and vote who might otherwise sit out and not do it. Usually the key to winning an election isn’t so much to change your opposition’s minds, but to rally your own people behind you and have your people show up. And so, I think, the key effect of Obama’s speech at the convention is going to be to rally Obama’s supporters and get them to show at the polls.

Any other thoughts?

I think with Obama a lot of people are counting on him to do so much. And one of the things, even as much as Lincoln accomplished, I’ve learned there’s only so much that a person can do. And a lot of the problems we’re facing, frankly, it may be too late to take care of them. Like climate change, maybe too late. Some things with the economy and the way things are going. You know, things may descend on him like they did on Herbert Hoover. And even though it wasn’t his fault, it’s going to be his responsibly to do something and who knows what he’ll be able to do. So I hope peoples’ expectations aren’t too high. I hope their hopes are high, but I hope their expectations aren’t unreasonable about what a single person can to get things turned around in this country.