Bloodlines

Obama has often been compared to Honest Abe Lincoln. After all, they are both tall with big ears and launched their campaigns in Springfield, IL--by sheer coincidence, of course. Editorial Cartoonists love to depict the Lincoln Memorial momentarily gaining sentience to smile approvingly about the nomination of an African-American to a major party. He's the only half-decent statue in the country--these guys are like brothers from a different mother!

There is also an interesting parallel in racial paranoia surrounding the two.

Lying chain e-mails didn't exist back in the Civil War days so people used a form of communication called "talking to each other." Using this tactic, rumors were generated about Lincoln's heritage being of African descent. He was a plant--a secret foreigner--sent in to destroy the nation from within. That was his motive in freeing the slaves. Turns out we haven't advanced much since.

Anyway, there wasn't any YouTube or Tina Fey back then so cartoonists were actually relevant--and at least one cartoon on the subject became a hit with the fanatics. I recently discovered it in a book called "Lines Of Contention: Political Cartoons of the Civil War."

It was created by Aldabert J Volck (signed under a pseudonym for fear of reprisal) and features Abe with an modest afro and dress reminiscent of a Persian warrior(!) complete with a scabbard. The title: "Under The Veil." So yeah, if a fucking white guy named Abraham Lincoln couldn't beat this smear, Obama doesn't have a chance of completely overcoming it.

I was able to find the comic online. Click the first result to download a pdf. The cartoon is on page 14.