I never compare myself to Lincoln: Obama

Emoryne

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posted on 11 years ago — updated on 1 second ago

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In an interview to the 'Meet the Press' on NBC news channel, Obama denied this is his Lincoln Moment.

Washington: US President Barack Obama on Sunday said he never compares himself with the great American leader Abraham Lincoln, who has been his source of inspiration. In an interview to the 'Meet the Press' on NBC news channel, Obama denied this is his Lincoln Moment.

"Is this your Lincoln Moment?" he was asked. "Well, no. Look, A, I never compare myself to Lincoln and, B, obviously the magnitude of the issues are quite different from the Civil War and slavery. The point, though, is democracy's always been messy. We are a big, diverse country that is constantly sort of arguing about all kinds of stuff. But eventually we do the right thing," Obama replied.

"Generally if you look at how I've tried to govern over the last four years and how I'll continue to try to govern, I'm not driven by some ideological agenda. I am a pretty practical guy. And I just want to make sure that things work. "And one of the nice things about never having another election again, I will never campaign again, is I think you can rest assured that all I care about is making sure that I leave behind an America that is stronger, more prosperous, more stable, more secure than it was when I came into office," Obama said in response to another question.

"That's going to continue to drive me. I think that the issue that we're dealing with right now in the fiscal cliff is a prime example of it. What I'm arguing for are maintaining tax cuts for 98 per cent of Americans. I don't think anybody would consider that some liberal left wing agenda. That used to be considered a pretty mainstream Republican agenda," he said.

Obama said he remain optimistic. "I'm just a congenital optimist, that eventually people kind of see the light. Winston Churchill used to say that we

Americans, we try every other option before we finally do the right thing. After everything else is exhausted we eventually do the right thing. And I think that that's true for Congress as well. And I think it's also important for Americans to remember that politics has always been messy," he said.