In an odd, non-sequitur of a segment, co-host Diane Sawyer kicked off the 8:30 hour of Friday's "Good Morning America" by reading aloud from an essay that President-elect Barack Obama wrote about Abraham Lincoln for a 2005 issue of Time magazine. Stopping the show cold for a minute and 22 seconds, she solemnly began, "...There was something that made us all stop and think. And you know, it's 60 days now. 60 days until the inauguration of a new president." [audio available here]
Then, Sawyer gravely announced that Obama had, in fact, written an essay: "And we saw that President-elect Obama has a favorite photograph, which he looks at. And here are the words that he wrote in Time magazine. An essay." To music that seemed reminiscent of the Ken Burns "Civil War" documentary, with images of Lincoln appearing on screen, the GMA host recited the words of the President-elect's Time article.
She closed by marveling at Obama's contention that President Lincoln did not allow the problems of his day to become the strife of the future. Sawyer, cooed, "And I love that sentence. 'He did not pass the challenges on to a future generation.'" One wonders if reading from Obama essays, pronouncements and future books could become a regular feature on GMA? Furthermore, why, exactly, is GMA doing a live reading of a three year old essay? [H/T to NB reader katainkent.]
A transcript of the segment, which aired at 8:31am on November 21, follows:
DIANE SAWYER: But, we're going to take a second. Because, there was something that made us all stop and think. And you know, it's 60 days now. 60 days until the inauguration of a new president. And we were thinking what it would be like to be a president-elect facing that incredible responsibility. And we saw that President-elect Obama has a favorite photograph, which he looks at. And here are the words that he wrote in Time magazine. An essay. These are his words about that face and why it inspires him. 'As I look at his picture, it's the man and not the icon that speaks to me. It is those imperfections and the painful self-awareness of those failings etched in every crease of his face and reflected in those haunted eyes that make him so compelling. For when the time came to confront the greatest moral challenge this nation has ever faced, this all-too human man did not pass the challenge on to future generations. But I marvel at what gives me such hope is that this man could overcome depression, self-doubt and the constraints of biography and not only act decisively, but retain his humanity. He did not know how things would turn out. But he did his best.' And I love that sentence. 'He did not pass the challenges on to a future generation.'
—Scott Whitlock is a news analyst for the Media Research Center.





















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The bump on my head.
November 21, 2008 - 12:43 ET by RackieI swooned.
You swooned.
November 21, 2008 - 12:44 ET by motherbeltI gagged.
You gagged.
November 21, 2008 - 12:47 ET by superconI spit up on my keyboard a little.
This will be worse than I thought.
Indeed, it will get worse. Here's another letter I found...
November 22, 2008 - 02:36 ET by Mike Bratton(Cue the Ken Burns "Civil War" antebellum music...)
"November 15, 2008. My dearest Michelle. The reaction of the world's economies to my election rages onward. When the dawn breaks over the Potomac, a great cry will rise up from the Hill. While I am tempted to bring my 'present' vote to bear on the roiling conflict that will cover the battlefield like the deep shade of a magnolia tree, I must do more.
"Therefore, I shall resign from the Senate entirely, hoping that the gnawing vacuum of my absence from that body will, as though pulling the cork from some legislative whiskey bottle, allow the intoxicating goodness of other Democrats to flow out, and soothe the fevered brow of the national countenance.
"My dearest, I count the hours until we are reunited, and it feels so good. Your loving husband, Barack."
--Mike
www.thebrattonreport...
The words of the fearless leader
November 21, 2008 - 12:43 ET by Defector01All shall be stopped to pay homage to the speech writer of the one and his hopey-changeness. You will provide cheesy inspirational music as you read them and you shalt feel hope.
Or maybe Sawyer and the others are getting their obama-gasm of the day from this, idk
I have only ever made one prayer to God, a very short one: O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous. And God granted it - Voltaire
And I love that sentence.
November 21, 2008 - 12:51 ET by motherbeltAnd I love that sentence. 'He did not pass the challenges on to a future generation.'
Wow. Diane Sawyer is in awe of George W. Bush!
One wonders if reading from Obama essays, pronouncements and future books could become a regular feature on GMA?
I'm looking forward to the collection of notes that he wrote to the girls' school when they were sick or needed an excused absence for other reasons!
MB - crossed my mind as well.. (Sawyer on Bush?)
November 21, 2008 - 14:48 ET by Gary HallWow. Diane Sawyer is in awe of George W. Bush!
Could have been speaking of Bush's legacy, of tackling the challenges he inherited in Jan. 2001:
A crashing economy, millions loosing their jobs and massive deficits in the books.
An Iraq, already responsible for the deaths of perhaps 2 million human beings, without a plan, without inspectors and a world body having long lost it's will to act.
An Afghanistan, long abandoned by the world at large, having just recently been overrun by a tyrannical radical human rights oppressing fundamental Islamic Taliban.
A Mideast - embroiled in a horrific Intafada
Africa - having brushed aside Clinton's promise of "Never Again," and plunged immediately into several horrific genocides and civil wars - the DR Congo, Sierra Leone, the Ivory Coast and Liberia. Perhaps 5 million additional human lives were taken by the end of the Clinton era - after he promised "never again." What a legacy our media celebrates with him every time he is in their presence.
Africa's other twin scourges, HIV/Aids and malaria. Bill Clinton turned his back on Africa (having truly been the one person the left had faith in to act). President Bush looked the devil in the eyes and lead. Some, world and local leaders, and humanitarian legends noticed; the MSM did their damn best to censor the news:
Sir Bob Geldof (of Live 8 - African continent humanitarian) said at the White House back in October (something the Hollywood - humanitarian loving press would never allow the public to see on the news - and something they'd never miss if the this would have been about a Democrat - it's really that simple):
Or President Ellen Sirleaf Johnson, of Liberia:
Yet, the right keeps losing
November 21, 2008 - 12:50 ET by mattmYet, the right keeps losing to these brain-dead, slavish groupies. It boggles the mind....
3 things, mattm,
November 21, 2008 - 13:26 ET by Indiana JoeIn real-estate, it's "location, location, location."
In politics, it's "media, media, media."
THAT'S why the right keeps getting it's a$$ handed to it. I'd say it would help if they were better media-handlers, but that would only help in a balanced media.
"Meet the new boss, same as the old boss..." - The Who
Two words "McCain, Palin"
November 21, 2008 - 22:54 ET by PopularTechThat is why they lost. A RINO and an Affirmative Action pick.
Censored Global Warming Videos
"Obama had, in fact, written an essay:..."
November 21, 2008 - 12:52 ET by JPR1Uh yeah! I'm sure.
Worked all night. Six drafts; polish it up; run it by Michelle; then overnight it to Bill Ayers.
For balance, can we get a
November 21, 2008 - 12:55 ET by BuffNBoneFor balance, can we get a few Biden reruns added to the mix of GMA readings?
"Fighters are fun but bombers make policy"
A struggling sixth grader in
November 21, 2008 - 12:57 ET by semolina_filcherA struggling sixth grader in an English class could write a better essay from the heart than the fraudulent pretend "President-elect". Such a waste of time.....so swoon already leftist press.
Orbis non Suffici
For crying out loud.
November 21, 2008 - 13:03 ET by Jack BauerFor crying out loud.
Are we going to have to put up with this puke inducing bollocks for FOUR years.
Oh -- and anyone who thinks Shakesobama actually wrote this pabulum, and not some flunky, is even more rabidly deranged than Uncle Tom Sawyer.
Jack, I'll see your "for
November 21, 2008 - 15:46 ET by motherbeltJack, I'll see your "for crying out loud!" and raise you a "Good Grief!"
Heaven's tomurgatroyd
November 21, 2008 - 15:51 ET by Jack BauerHeaven's tomurgatroyd mother!
(No idea about the correct spelling!)
Separation of Obama and state
November 21, 2008 - 12:59 ET by nkviking75I think we should sue to block Barry from becoming President on the grounds that America would be establishing an official state religion.
Welcome to the era of unity, you racist!
ObaMao?
November 21, 2008 - 13:02 ET by Chris NormanPerhaps, in response to NBC's Obama Love video, ABC can publish a Little Red Book of Obama quotes for all of us to carry around. It would go nicely with the giant Obama posters soon to be hung from government buildings...
I find it fascinating that
November 21, 2008 - 13:08 ET by bradbenj5952I find it fascinating that Obama would have so much admiration for a Republican! After all, it was the Democratic party of that day who were bent on protecting slavery and who, after the un-civil war, created and maintained the Jim Crow laws in the South. See: http://en.wikipedia....
Ah, the irony!
"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." Acts 16:31
Wow, brad, you actually
November 21, 2008 - 13:30 ET by Indiana JoeWow, brad, you actually found a wiki entry that squarely lays Jim Crow at the Democrat's door! Guess that one slipped by the "editors."
"Meet the new boss, same as the old boss..." - The Who
Historical revisionists may
November 21, 2008 - 13:37 ET by bradbenj5952Historical revisionists may be able to change some references to fit their twisted views (especially those used by the NEA), but they can't change them all...neither can they change history.
"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." Acts 16:31
I personally think its a
November 21, 2008 - 13:42 ET by katainkentI personally think its a good time to start collecting printed history.
member of the Conservative Independant Witness Protection Program since Nov. 5, 2008
Obama only supported Lincoln...
November 22, 2008 - 21:46 ET by andophiroxia...because it's popular.
“You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.” ~ Winston Churchill
An awed hushed tone
November 21, 2008 - 13:00 ET by bailmeoutI threw up in my mouth
Maybe on inauguration day....
November 21, 2008 - 13:19 ET by superconObama can give his Annenberg Address.
Four score and seven years ago ...a man named William Ayers had an idea...
This is a 2005 essay so
November 21, 2008 - 13:28 ET by katainkentThis is a 2005 essay so Time must be just snapping it up for the sake of ... the Sixty Days of Obama?
Brief readings each morning following a prayer of thanks and a some monks intoning "yes we can".
*gag*
member of the Conservative Independant Witness Protection Program since Nov. 5, 2008
More proof instead that
November 21, 2008 - 13:33 ET by Defector01Obama is in hiding while Rome burns, where is the 'emperor'?
I have only ever made one prayer to God, a very short one: O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous. And God granted it - Voltaire
Was the music really necessary?
November 21, 2008 - 13:41 ET by ProssI mean seriously...wtf is with that? Although it would be somewhat comical if all "news" was broadcast to some sort of them music. The big networks could play the organ and sinical music everytime the mention the word republican...just a thought.
"We will not tire, We will no falter, We will not fail." President George W. Bush, October 26, 2001
I'm surprised they didn't play the Jaws theme for President Bush
November 21, 2008 - 14:17 ET by Jaykewhenever they talked about him. So many times they wouldn't even use his title. They would just start out "Bush this" or "Bush that". If they wanted to be polite they would call him "Mr. Bush" as if to say "He's not my President. Well, guess what. If this usurper does actually become President, I WILL ALWAYS CALL HIM "BARRY" in honor of his grandmother. Get ready because soon they will begin their reporting with something like "His Most High and Exalted Hisrorical President ..." This is just ridiculous!
Young Frankenstein
November 21, 2008 - 14:46 ET by Mica the MagnificentI heard they thought of using the Young Frankenstein 'frightened horse whinny' sound whenever the Cloris Leachman character's named was mentioned for whenever Bush's name was said.
Sawyer: Last night George Bush (horse whinny) met with world leaders at the White House.
Oh, And when I do talk about BARRY I will always play ..
November 21, 2008 - 15:12 ET by Jaykethe USSR anthem in the background. Barry gives me the creeps.
Urgh
November 21, 2008 - 13:59 ET by EurikaI can't take this anymore, who will deliver us?!
It's about President Bush
November 21, 2008 - 14:01 ET by sembyIf you listen to what Sawyer is saying and think of President Bush you will understand...................................
this morning
November 21, 2008 - 14:08 ET by roni passed out. drs now say i'm in a coma but my family plans to contact obama and ask him to come to my bedside and heal me.
Twit
November 21, 2008 - 14:07 ET by rammingspeedDiane Sawyer is a discredited twit from way back. Her liberal buds don't get it, but there's nothing to be done about that. She speaks only to the choir, and has been spotted out for her silliness many times over. She lives in the insular world of liberal phonies, and she'll never change.
Rammingspeed
November 22, 2008 - 11:02 ET by ahusserLove your monniker. I was using this as an example of Obama's alternative energy plan combined with the civilian defense force.
"...no civilization, no matter how rich, no matter how refined, can long survive once it loses the power to meet force with equal or superior force." - Bernard Knox
Diane Sawyer needs to go
November 21, 2008 - 14:09 ET by clubchamp6Diane Sawyer needs to go back to interviewing prostitutes...no excuse me .... escorts like Ashley Dupree because she is a whore for the left. Riveting interview Diane..
Does it look like her face is starting to fall off...nice eyelashes you POS
Here is a possible answer as to why...
November 21, 2008 - 14:17 ET by c5thenHey, I got the wrong "CHANGE"!
Alan Keyes / Sarah Palin - 2012
Don't Blame KY
November 21, 2008 - 14:27 ET by UtherpendI am so ashamed that Diane Sawyer was once a Kentuckian, not that she will ever admit it, but she used to live in the land that Lincoln once trod. His cabin is still here but I am sure that BO knows more about the man since he wrote a love letter to Lincoln for Time.
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquillity of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feed you
Observation to those who would distribute wealth
November 21, 2008 - 15:03 ET by misterbillUther--to those you have addressed----
If you would bring upon us in the name of change, a form of servitude that takes from he who creates or earns wealth and gives it to those who nurse at the teat of public distribution, then get thee to another place. Your kind is not wanted here.
If you stay here, choose not to steal another one's shoes, but work to walk in your own. Pay for your own gas and mortgage. Do not ask that a government servant provide it for you at the expense of honest, hard working people.
Amen Uther &
November 21, 2008 - 15:48 ET by bigtimerAmen Uther & misterb.
"America isn't the problem...America is the solution." ~ Rush Limbaugh
"For even when we were with
November 21, 2008 - 17:57 ET by bradbenj5952"For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat." 2 Thessalonians 3:10
"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." Acts 16:31
Salute!
November 21, 2008 - 15:40 ET by Copperhead RidgeSalute from "Warrn Cyownny and Bown Gren!"
When I lived in Louisville, I played baseball at a park named for Diane's daddy. I don't claim her either. I do remember when she was the weather girl on WHAS TV and was still hot.
Can anyone say
November 21, 2008 - 14:38 ET by JackrvMao's Little Red Book?
Jack Van Nostrand
Oh Diane, you are one of
November 21, 2008 - 15:00 ET by bigtimerOh Diane, you are one of the phoniest drama queens there are on the morning shows...
Give me a break you old leftist lovin' hen...you can't fool all of us, any more than O can...you are both empty vessels with an agenda for destruction to this country...
I cannot stand these people...I do not know how people watch this crap after a certain age...you know, I would think by the time you are in your early to mid-thirties it is time to grow-up, face reality and get a LIFE in the real world.
Good Golly Miss Molly I am sick of all of this...and we have four years to go yet, what the msm did for the Clintons is going to be small stuff compared to what they will do for the big-eared empty-suit Soros sock-puppet and his partner Aunt Esther.
"America isn't the problem...America is the solution." ~ Rush Limbaugh
Give me a break you old
November 21, 2008 - 15:21 ET by Jack BauerBT -- that's very unfair to hens who, in laying delicious eggs, at least perform a vital public service.
Laughing out loud here
November 21, 2008 - 15:27 ET by bigtimerLaughing out loud here Jack...
Forgive me, you are so right...smart too!
(Don't know if you remeber that old line we used to have here years ago, Ray Shamrock and some of us played it for quite awhile, I'm pretty sure you were there too.)
Btw...wonder where JAB went to.
"America isn't the problem...America is the solution." ~ Rush Limbaugh
Business card
November 21, 2008 - 15:40 ET by nkviking75I can just imagine your business card, Jack:
Jack Bauer, Chairman
Chicken Anti-Defamation League
Welcome to the era of unity, you racist!
ha ha. Chairhen? Defend
November 21, 2008 - 15:55 ET by Jack Bauerha ha. Chairhen?
Defend Our Poultry's Existence - DOPE.
Suggestion
November 21, 2008 - 15:44 ET by Copperhead RidgeNB needs to develop "Obama Barf Bags" and sell them. We're going to need large supplies of them over the next four years if to get through any kind of media analysis.
I thought I was going to wretch watching Diane read this drivel.
Dang if Barack Obama isn't Chance the Gardener.
What a gag-fest
November 21, 2008 - 15:50 ET by SickofLibsLincoln had a prominent wart on his face. So does Obama. That's it, Sawyer.
Sawyer: "He wrote an essay, AND THESE ARE HIS WORDS..."
I love her heavy accent on "his words"...
Sounds like a kindergarten mother raving: Look, little Seymour wrote this all by himself with no help!
Obama has a a picture he looks at all the time, only it's not Lincoln - it's of himself. Get the countdown-to-nirvana clock working on the chyron.
yawn
November 21, 2008 - 16:13 ET by candanceObama needs to give up writing because he isn't very good at it. Both of his books are dry and predictable. That essay sounded like he could have writtten it in high school.
I suspect that Obama could write "see Jane run" and Sawyer would still call it genius.
As for the content of the essay, I have one comment - the secular crowd of the 19th century resisted abolition because they believed Christian radicals wanted to force a moral code onto society unfairly. Had Sawyer been alive back then she'd have probably shouted "get your rosaries off my property." Lincoln won election precisely because so many others had passed the problem on to future generations; they tossed it around like a hot potato hoping it wouldn't explode in their hands, and Lincoln was the lucky man left holding it at the wrong time.
One more quick comment to add here: if we devised a way for babies to be allowed to vote, Democrats would be pro life tomorrow.
I'm a typical white person.
Why dosen\t somebody
November 21, 2008 - 17:24 ET by Gabrielle Eread something he wrote for Law Review or his missing thesis?
The great thing about democracy is that it gives every voter a chance to do something stupid.
Art Spander
Gag! Next week GMA to
November 21, 2008 - 20:18 ET by TN MomGag! Next week GMA to host an Obama Art Exibit featuring Obama's 2nd Grade coloring books, as Diane Sawyer faints on-air!
Wow! Gotta set my Tivo.
November 21, 2008 - 20:22 ET by Clear thinkerWow! Gotta set my Tivo. Not!
Save Conservatism - Dump The GOP?
Making Fun of AGW http://giovanniworld.wordpress.com/
The ONLY reason I turn on
November 21, 2008 - 20:51 ET by TN MomThe ONLY reason I turn on ABC is for the NFL. As soon as the season ends, I'm going to cancel!
we're on a need to know basis
November 21, 2008 - 22:29 ET by katainkentThings we need to know (the last 24 hrs of Obama)
member of the Conservative Independant Witness Protection Program since Nov. 5, 2008
Hmm?
November 21, 2008 - 22:17 ET by ChattychitoI think he paid for that essay.
He didn't write it. An on campus "Essay writer for hire" wrote it and Obama just signed his name. It only cost him $50
as good as any of the conspiracy theories yet. Hee Hee Hee!
by the way.
Fact, the Slavery issue was introduced into the Civil War factor two years into the war because the North was lossing support for the war among it's constituantes(sp?) who were all leftists trying to take control of the agricultural south so they could exploit its mineral wealth (and they did).
It was the mainstream media Newspaper reporters of the North who manipulated the truth to help win the war for the North. The lefty press has always been at its biased reporting.
Fact, the real issue was not about slavery but about the States rights to govern themsleves apart from a centralized federal government that the North wanted to force upon the southern States.
by the way I was born in Chicago IL. I am a Northerner by birth and I know the truth about the civil war they no longer teach in public schools.
Fact, Egypt (a black peoples) for 3000 years had control over the then world Pre-Christian era. they took captive many people from the North (White peoples) and made them slaves to build the Pyramids and their other cities. They were even harsher to the Ethiopians (a black people) to the south.
The Bible says you sow you will reap. The black peoples of Africa were sold by other black peoples to Europians for slaves then exported to Eurpopr and America for resale. and that was only for 500 years or so. The scales of justice are not balanced but God loves Egypt (the black people) and they will have a sspecial place in his Kingdom. soon to come.
Thank XXx i had to play that video clip, after reading the posts
November 21, 2008 - 22:32 ET by upcountrywaterLincoln was killed by a democrat...
0bama ur a
DEMOCRAT
Aclu</
Let it all come out ... let them build him up!
November 23, 2008 - 12:16 ET by elmaysey3Amidst all the Obama worship, let us bow down to the media bias, let us adore him, let us build him up and wait until the fall comes ... it will be without mercy, it will shock the masses and we will see the bias media have to do side-stepping as they eat all of their words. The adoration of this man by the media is a setup for a great fall ... and we will be waiting.