How close in style and substance is Barack Obama to Abraham Lincoln, one of our greatest presidents, who also hailed from Illinois and emerged from a humble background to lead our nation in a time of crisis?
Ferguson and Long examine the first inaugural addresses of both men to explore the parallels between the two and offer insights into how President Obama will guide our nation.
Bio
Andrew Ferguson
Andrew Ferguson is an American journalist and author. He is senior editor of The Weekly Standard and a columnist for Bloomberg News based in Washington, D.C.
Before joining the Standard at its founding in 1995, he was senior editor at the Washingtonian magazine. He has been a columnist for Fortune, TV Guide, and Forbes FYI, and a contributing editor to Time magazine. He has also written for the New Yorker, New York, The New Republic, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, and other publications.
A collection of his essays, Fools Names, Fools Faces, was published by Atlantic Monthly Press in 1996, and Land of Lincoln has just been released by Grove/Atlantic on May 30, 2007. His work has appeared in several anthologies.
In 1992, he was a White House speechwriter for President George H.W. Bush.
Rob Long
Rob Long is a writer and producer in Hollywood. He began his career writing on TV's long-running "Cheers," and served as co-executive producer in its final season. During his time on the series, "Cheers" received two Emmy Awards, and two Golden Globe awards. His most recent television series were "George and Leo," starring Bob Newhart and Judd Hirsh, "Love & Money," on CBS, and "Men, Women & Dogs," on the WB Network - all three of which he created with his writing partner, Dan Staley. Their production company, Staley/Long Productions, was based at Paramount Studios from 1993 to 2001, and is currently based at Touchstone. In addition, he and his partner have served as creative consultants on numerous programs.
Mr. Long has been twice nominated for an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe, and has received a Writers Guild of America award.
He has co-written several feature film scripts, including "Just a Shot Away," currently in pre-production with a France-based production company.
He is a contributing editor of National Review, and Newsweek International and writes occasionally for the Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times. His weekly radio commentary, "Martini Shot," is broadcast on the Los Angeles public radio station KCRW, and is distributed nationally. He is a regular political and cultural commentator on the "Dennis Miller Show" on CNBC, and "Day to Day" on National Public Radio.
Peter Robinson
Peter M. Robinson is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, where he writes about business and politics, edits the Hoover Institution's quarterly journal, the Hoover Digest, and hosts Hoover's television program, "Uncommon Knowledge."
Robinson is also the author of three books: How Ronald Reagan Changed My Life; It's My Party: A Republican's Messy Love Affair with the GOP; and the best-selling business book Snapshots from Hell: The Making of an MBA.
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