Barack Hussein Obama, our nation’s first black president, has a special connection with Abraham Lincoln. Today, he celebrated Lincoln’s 200th birthday on Capitol Hill. A weary-eyed Obama, who we would imagine has had a few sleepless nights as he urges us all toward a much-needed stimulus bill, told the nation that he has "a special gratitude" to the man who in many ways made it possible for him to become commander in chief. Obama’s respect for Lincoln has been obvious since he ran for office. He launched his presidential campaign in Lincoln’s hometown. When he arrived in Washington, he followed the train route Lincoln used in 1861. Obama chose Lincoln’s bible for his swearing-in.

Our 44th president, a man who deeply knows his history and uses the past as stepping stones for the future, urged Americans to think of Lincoln and the torn country he helped repair. The speech came one day after the economic stimulus package was passed despite Republican backlash. That was very much in Obama’s thoughts when he said, "We are far less divided than in Lincoln’s day," but "we are once again debating the critical issues of our time." He also said:

All Lincoln wanted was for Confederate troops to go back home and return to work on their farms and in their shops. That was the only way, Lincoln knew, to repair the rifts that had torn this country apart. It was the only way to begin the healing that our nation so desperately needed.

Let us remember that we are doing so as servants to the same flag, as representatives of the same people, and as stakeholders in a common future. That is the most fitting tribute we can pay and the most lasting monument we can build to that most remarkable of men, Abraham Lincoln.

Click here to watch Barack Obama’s speech on Capitol Hill in honor of Abraham Lincoln’s Bicentennial Birthday: