Maybe Barack Obama should ditch the middle name “Hussein” for his inaugural and go with this:

I, Barack Abraham Lincoln Obama do solemnly swear…..

I mean folks these comparisons to Lincoln are unreal. First he announced his candidacy in Lincoln’s hometown of Springfield. He also seems to like Lincoln’s “Team of Rivals” approach when it comes to his Cabinet. Now he’s doing the “train ride to Washington thing” just like Lincoln did. Is all of this a bit much? Seriously.

Should we just go ahead an erect the monument now? The Obama memorial next to Jefferson and Lincoln?

Critics of George W Bush did not like his “Texas swagger” but does Obama have a swagger problem too? Everybody knows he’s supremely confident but the danger for Obama is getting tagged with the “arrogant” label. He needs to be able to work with Republicans in Congress. The last thing he needs is to overplay his “mandate card”. If he does, it will ruin any goodwill with Republicans.

Obama has a real chance to be a transformation President. He also has a chance of blowing it if he gets too cocky and overplays his hand.

More on the Lincoln/Obama connection here.

More on his historic train ride below from The Washington Post:

Following in Abraham Lincoln's steps once more, President-elect Barack Obama is planning to travel by train to Washington ahead of his inaugural next month -- starting in Philadelphia, where Lincoln delivered an address while en route to the District from Springfield, Ill., in 1861.

Obama and his family will ride a special charter train, an inaugural spokeswoman said. From Philadelphia, they will make a journey familiar to commuters along the Northeast corridor: riding to Wilmington, to pick up Vice President-elect Joe Biden and his family; then on to Baltimore, for another event. Obama's trip will take place on a single day -- Saturday, Jan. 17 -- and wind up in Washington that night, making for a less arduous journey than the multiweek trip Lincoln took in February of 1861 (and which included, along the way, news of the infamous "Baltimore Plot" to assassinate him en route).

It is unclear where Obama will be immediately before Philadelphia, or what events he will hold in the cities along the way, although he is expected to be living in Washington already by that time.

"As part of the most open and accessible Inauguration in history, we hope to include as many Americans as possible who wish to participate, but can't be in Washington," Emmett S. Beliveau, executive director of the 2009 Presidential Inaugural Committee, said in a statement. "These events will allow us to do that while honoring the rich history and tradition of previous inaugural journeys."

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