How are Lincoln, Obama similar?

Echoes of Abraham Lincoln reverberate throughout today's inauguration of Barack Obama as our nation's 44th president.

Obama's inauguration theme - "A New Birth of Freedom" - is an old line from Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, but parallels go back to the start of the campaign. On a frigid Feb. 10, 2007, Obama announced his presidential aspirations on the steps of the Old State Capitol in Springfield, where Lincoln made his famous "House Divided" speech in 1858. On Election Night, Obama sought to bring a divided nation together by borrowing another Lincoln line as he told the cheering throng at Grant Park that "we are not enemies, but friends."

Lincoln didn't have a secretary in the White House named Obama, and Obama won't have a secretary named Lincoln. They don't share the middle name Hussein. But the similarities between Lincoln and Obama can't be ignored.

Physically, the gawky, gaunt, funny-looking young Lincoln probably would have felt a kinship with the skinny, big-eared, funny-named Obama. At 6-foot-4, Lincoln might have been able to hold his own on a basketball court with the 6-foot-1 Obama, if basketball had been invented in Lincoln's day.

Neither man is a native of our state. Obama was born in Hawaii, Lincoln in Kentucky. Both Lincoln and Obama lost parents early. Nancy Hanks Lincoln died when Abe was 9 years old. Barack Obama Sr. left his family when his son was a baby. Both presidents had women in addition to their mothers (Lincoln's stepmother, Obama's grandmother) who fed the boys' intellects.

"In Lincoln's rise from poverty, his ultimate mastery of language and law, his capacity to overcome personal loss and remain determined in the face of repeated defeat - in all this, he reminded me not just of my own struggles," Obama wrote in a 2005 essay about his admiration for Lincoln. "He also reminded me of a larger, fundamental element of American life - the enduring belief that we can constantly remake ourselves to fit our larger dreams."

Both men, while often seen as soft-spoken and thoughtful, had audacious dreams and the ambition to see them through.

Lincoln was largely self-educated, while Obama went to the best schools, but both ended up as lawyers involved in civil rights and became politicians in Illinois.

Both married smart, very well-educated women, who weren't easily wooed and always felt free to speak their minds.

Both lost and learned from elections in Illinois - Lincoln lost his first race for the Illinois General Assembly while Obama got spanked by Bobby Rush in his congressional bid.

Both men served more than seven years in the Illinois General Assembly, and one term in Washington - Lincoln as a congressman and Obama as a senator.

Both rose to national prominence while running for the U.S. Senate from Illinois. Lincoln lost to Stephen Douglas, but the spotlight helped him nationally. Alan Keyes didn't provide Obama much chance for high-minded debates, but winning the election and becoming the only African-American in the Senate gave Obama plenty of publicity.

Obama's breakthrough speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston gave him a national fan base. Likewise, Lincoln wowed the political elite with his 1860 speech at Cooper Union in New York.

Neither man carried the Southern states in their presidential races.

Both men won their parties' presidential nominations by defeating more experienced candidates from the state of New York - Obama upsetting Sen. Hillary Clinton, and Lincoln besting Sen. William Seward. Both presidents later gave cabinet seats to their former rivals.

Obama has said one of the books that will guide his presidency is historian Doris Kearns Goodwin's 2005 "Team of Rivals," which tells the story of how Lincoln filled his administration with political foes whose sharp opinions and criticism helped hone Lincoln's policies.

Both have shown pragmatic streaks and the willingness to compromise. Obama the community organizer made alliances with Illinois Senate Leader Emil Jones, and backed off his resistance to have Roland Burris replace him in the Senate. Lincoln opposed slavery, but vowed, "If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it."

Both presidents, and their families, traveled by train to their inaugurations. Both moved into the White House with young children.

Weather permitting, Obama will take his oath of office using the same Bible that Lincoln used for his inauguration, followed by a luncheon of Lincoln's favorite foods served on replica Lincoln plates.

Both entered the White House at a time when the nation was facing horrific problems that threatened our way of life. By the time Lincoln took the oath of office, seven states had seceded and the Civil War was looming. Obama faces a couple of ongoing wars and an economic battle that takes new financial casualties every day.

Lincoln responded to those immense challenges well enough to earn his own monument, a holiday and his face on currency. We won't be able to see how Obama fares with his challenges for a few more years.