Gingrich, Cuomo To Walk in Lincoln's Footsteps

By GARY SHAPIRO, Staff Reporter of the Sun
February 26, 2007

Nearly a century and a half after Abraham Lincoln strode to the podium at Cooper Union's Great Hall, two men from opposite sides of the aisle will meet there Wednesday at a "Lincoln-inspired event" to discuss the state of political culture.

A former speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, and Governor Cuomo are likely to agree on issues such as the need for serious discussion to be part of the upcoming presidential campaign. On issues such as the role of government in solving problems, though, they are likely to differ.

"I think we are capable of disagreeing without being disagreeable," Mr. Cuomo told The New York Sun.

Others who have spoken in the Great Hall include Presidents Grant, Cleveland, and Taft, and key addresses have been delivered there at the inception of the NAACP, the women's suffrage movement, and the American Red Cross.

Mr. Cuomo said he was discouraged that the first presidential primaries had been so closely grouped together. Mr. Cuomo also said too much attention has been given to the 2008 contenders' race, gender, and charisma. He pointed to the tabloid headlines last week regarding a flap between Senators Clinton and Obama. "How useful is that consumption of space?" he asked, saying the American people badly need a higher level of debate.

Mr. Gingrich likewise said he believes there has been too little attention to pressing issues. "Campaigns nowadays just don't seem to have substance," Mr. Gingrich said in a brief video message about the event on his Web site, Newt.org. Dissatisfied with what he described as a reliance on maneuvering and consultants, he said the campaigns were "not looking at what America needs."

Messrs. Cuomo and Gingrich said they want candidates to delve into detail on issues, "not 12 people standing in a room, each giving you a 20-second answer on Iraq," Mr. Gingrich said in the video.

Harold Holzer, who will introduce the program at the free event, said that although politicians have been blamed, voters and audiences are partly to blame for not demanding more.

He offered an example of a time when they did demand more: After Lincoln's long speech in 1860, in which the future 16th president argued that the Founding Fathers believed that federal government had the right to control the spread of slavery, the audience clamored for more speeches.

Lincoln had passed his audition, so to speak, before an Eastern audience. Mr. Holzer referred to it as the Kander and Ebb theory of politics: "If you can make it here, you'll make it anywhere."

After a celebratory dinner following his speech at Cooper Union, Lincoln read two sets of proofs that night at the New York Tribune. It helped launch his national career.

Mr. Holzer said Messrs. Cuomo and Gingrich likewise had the stamina, ideas, and projection of voice to have been capable of being political candidates in the 19th century. (He said it was unlikely that Presidents Clinton and Bush could have been heard in the 19th century.)

Gingrich, Cuomo To Walk in Lincoln's Footsteps

Reader comments on this article