. >>> lincoln was not an abolitionist. he never claimed to be one but had a deep moral hatred of slavery and made that very clear. i think another perhaps difference between him and president obama is, you know, what everyone thinks about the specific policies, and you can debate i don't think obama has made clear where he draws the line. what is his bottom line? >>> time for the culture of politics. we just heard james carville complain about obama's failings. what was the historical perspective. when obama was elected, many were quick to liken him to lincoln. so halfway into obama's term, does the comparison still hold up? we know the best person to answer that question is eric foner, the author of "the fiery trial: abraham lincoln and american slavery." >> many folks don't remember that president lincoln also had a bad midterm election. >> absolutely. >> how did he react to it compared to how president obama -- >> 1862, the republicans suffered serious setbacks. they didn't lose -- >> 1862 elections are not foremost in

. >>> lincoln was not an abolitionist.ver claimed to be one but had a deep moral hatred of slavery and made that very clear. i think another perhaps difference between him and president obama is, you know, what everyone thinks about the specific policies, and you can debate idon't think obama has made clear where he draws the line. what is his bottom line? [ female announcer ] there's complete. and then there's most complete. like what you get from centrum silver ultra women's, the most complete multivitamin for women over 50. it has vitamin d, which emerging science suggests supports breast health, centrum silver ultra women's. which emerging science suggests supports breast health, three. two. one. ♪ don't cha wish your work phone was hot like me?... ♪ the droid pro by motorola knows you need business on the go. with its powerful 1 gigahertz processor... ♪ da da da don't cha... ♪ its globetrotting wi-fi hotspotting swagger... it knows you want a rich web experience with adobe flash and access to over 100,000 android apps

lincoln was not an abolitionist, he never claimed to be an abolitionist. they often criticized him, sometimes very strongly, and he had some unflattering remarks to say about them. but i think it's important that lincoln saw himself as part of a broad anti-slavery movement of which abolitionists were also a part. he was well aware of their -- even though it was a small movement -- he was well aware of their impact on public opinion. their letters, their speeches, their pamphlets, newspapers, traveling itinerant lecturers arousing northern sentiment to confront the moral dilemma of slavery. in 1858 lincoln said, he said every schoolboy recognizes the names of wilbur force and sharp. these were the leaders of the british movement in the 1790s to abolish the slave trade from africa. who today can name one man who opposed them? in other words, lincoln saw history moving in a certain direction. he didn't know how fast or when it would conclude, but he saw himself as part of this general tendency toward the eventual end of slavery. and the destruction of slavery

is an abolitionist. he gives a speech against slavery and there were some attacks and there but it was kind of in impassive speech against slavery. he had really angered a congressman from south carolina who did come over to the floor of the senate to the senate chamber to try to beat him to death with the king. this was not the only incident like this in the u.s. senate, the u.s. congress and the 19th century. this happened even asked anyone and it's captured in this beautiful lithograph that i use for my cover. so it's marked in american history that way, but there were some bench clearing brawls and congress. there were some real moments of -- dose of this size. there were a lot of moments of incivility, and they were not so uncommon. they are recorded and remembered. there have been so many periods in the united states come in so many periods of incivility. but with regards to the president, we talk a lot about that in political science, have the president is viewed come how he is talked about, proce

it was an abolitionist newspaper editor, and the like.ln is on the cover of my book and is really the center in some ways of the book because you have this side of lincoln, let all laws be obeid, come what may. then you have president lincoln who believed it was more important to preserve the union than to obey any individual law. he basically defies the chief justice. the emancipation proclamation that we all applaud. and he is also very famous for saying with regard to the suspension of habeas corpus, are all the laws one to go be disobeyed, this one law, come what may. host: let me read from george washington's farewell address in 1976. guest: 7096. host: excuse me. -- 1796. host: excuse me. guest: again, you can find other quotes from washington. i edited another boat called "responding to imperfection." the title comes from a letter that he wrote to his nephew who would end up in the supreme court, saying, as all of the framers did privately, look, the constitution is not perfect. it is full of terrible compromises, one of them being

abolitionist john which your wrote -- wittier wrote -- let us make it happen. let us use this lifetime opportunity to encourage all to enjoy the activity of sailing. we have an opportunity to host the world oldest trophy sport in our own city. i urge you to support the america's cup in san francisco. supervisor mirkarimi: next speaker, please. >> i am a lifelong san francisco resident. i am here to support the host city agreement. i recently read in "the garden," and a fellow supervisor spoke to the two-threshold test for voting for the america's cup. is it is a good deal -- is it a good deal for san francisco? is it the best deal? the first threshold makes sense. i believe it is a good deal for san francisco. especially the northern waterfront option and the new protections guarantees suggested by supervisor chu. the second notion that this needs to be the best option seems misplaced. it is unknowable. as in poker, you have to put your money in before you can see the other players' cards. the only way to know if you got the best deal possible is if mr. allison walked away from the deal. -- if mr. ellison walked away from the deal. secondly, other cities are