Er, not quite. Lincoln wasn’t even the GOP’s first Presidential nominee; the first Republican nominee was John C. Fremont in 1856. As the Independence Hall Association recalls, the actual founders of the Republican Party are “Northern leaders such as Horace Greeley, Salmon Chase and Charles Sumner.” Lincoln joined early, as did other anti-slavery Whigs whose party was unraveling at the time, and Lincoln came in second for the 1856 vice-presidential nomination, but he was not a founder of the party. By the time he became a factor in the GOP, the party had already taken a majority in the House of Representatives (1855); it also carried 11 states and 114 electoral votes in the 1856 election that sent Democrat James Buchanan to the White House.
Next time Obama wants to lecture Republicans on their own history, maybe he should take the time to learn it first.
◼ Palin knew Revere better than Obama knew Lincoln - Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion
◼ "It’s even worse, because Palin’s (accurate) comments were made in an on-the-fly interview whereas Obama’s were in a prepared speech." - Althouse
◼ Obama: Lincoln Launched the Era of Big Government - White House Dossier
◼ The Abe Lincoln Gaffe - John Hayward at Human Events
A reader very concisely makes some further, and devastating, points about the history of the transcontinental railroad:◼ PBS alters transcript to hide Obama gaffe (with screenshot) - American Thinker
Obama fumbled a few times historically. Lincoln's government did not build the transcontinental railroad. Government started laying the groundwork going back to the 1850s, but the private sector did the job.
Government involvement in the railroads led to some of the worst scandals in American history to that point, notably the Credit Mobilier scandal. So citing government linkage with railroads really undermines the big government case.
Also, it was Congress that initiated the Morrill Land Grant Act, which Obama seemed to want to paint as a creature of presidential power.
