President Obama was the only one to omit the words "under God" among the 61 politicians, former presidents and celebrities who recited the Gettysburg Address for a new Ken Burns PBS documentary
(click for a 57-second audio montage). After a media brouhaha, the White House is now blaming, the very-liberal, Burns for giving President Obama Abraham Lincoln's first draft to read, which omits the words -- the other 60 were apparently given the correct version.
Included in the other sixty, who read "under God," were: Liberal TV pundits Rachel Maddow (MSNBC Host), Wolf Blitzer (CNN Journalist), Arianna Huffington (Entrepreneur), David Gregory (NBC Journalist), Gwen Ifill (PBS Journalist), Nina Totenberg (NPR Journalist), Bob Schieffer (CBS Journalist); and liberal politicians Bill Clinton (Former President), Jimmy Carter (Former President), Mario Cuomo (Former Governor of New York), Gabby Giffords (Former Congresswoman), Tim Kaine (Senator), Chuck Schumer (Senator), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Congresswoman), Nancy Pelosi (House Minority Leader); as well as liberal comedians Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, Conan O'Brien, and Whoopi Goldberg.
President Obama Has Deleted God the Creator on Numerous Occasions, including in Thanksgiving Proclamations, and at Easter.
For background, click headlines below to read previous articles:
President Obama Skirts God Almighty at Prayer Breakfast
President Obama Strikes Biblical Prayer from Inauguration
President Obama Reads Bible, but doesn't Honor Bible
President Obama's National Cathedral is the Seat of Apostasy
President Obama's Veterans Administration Strips Jesus & Bible from Chaplains
Is President Obama a Christian? No, Say Two-Thirds of Americans
Rather, many Americans believe Barack Obama is Lord!
-- From "President Obama omits 'under God' in reading Gettysburg Address: Is this a controversy?" by John Luciew, Pennsylvania Patriot-News 11/20/13
. . . documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, of PBS fame, had leaders and celebrities of all stripes read the speech.
. . . President Obama's delivery appeared to contain an omission. In a line that every other celebrity delivered as "that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom," the President left out the words "under God."
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Text of Gettysburg Address, as transmitted by The Associated Press 150 years ago" by The Associated Press 11/19/13
. . . from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that the dead shall not have died in vain. (Applause.) That the nation shall, under God, have a new birth of freedom, and that the government of the people, by the people and for the people, shall not perish from the earth. (Long applause.)
To read the entire Gettysburg Address, CLICK HERE.
From "White House explains why Obama didn't say 'under God' in Gettysburg Address" by Stephanie Condon, CBS News 11/19/13
White House spokesman Jay Carney on Tuesday gave a simple explanation for the reading.
"He read the version of the address that Ken Burns provided," he said, noting that Burns is a "noted Civil War scholar."
Specifically, Carney said that Burns gave Mr. Obama the "Nicolay copy" of the Gettysburg Address -- the first draft of the speech, named after John Nicolay, the White House staffer who preserved it.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Obama Snubs 150th Anniversary of Gettysburg Address" by George E. Condon Jr., National Journal 11/19/13
. . . Obama, unlike [previous presidents, decided] not to go to such an anniversary commemoration. His decision is doubly surprising because he has so often tied himself to his fellow Illinoisan Lincoln. Obama announced his candidacy in 2007 near Lincoln's law office in Springfield, Ill. Both in 2009 and 2013, he took the oath of office with his hand on Lincoln's Bible. And in 2009, he replicated Lincoln's 1861 route from Philadelphia to Washington for the Inauguration.
"It didn't work schedule-wise," was the explanation tweeted Tuesday morning by Dan Pfeiffer, the president's senior adviser. The schedule released by the White House showed the president at 10 a.m. in the Oval Office receiving his regular daily briefing. Then, at 10:45, he welcomed to the White House a group of senators to brief them on the latest developments in Iran. That briefing was not scheduled until Monday, well after the White House declined the Gettysburg invitation. Later in the day -- after he would have been back from the planned ceremony at Gettysburg -- he goes to the Four Seasons Hotel to address The Wall Street Journal CEO Council's annual meeting and talk about the economy.
. . . The Gettysburg Times reports that every 20th-century president made the pilgrimage except for Bill Clinton.
Even as accomplished an orator as Obama would have had a daunting challenge to follow the simple eloquence of Lincoln . . .
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Obama omits ‘under God’ from recital of Gettysburg Address for 150th anniversary" by Ben Johnson, LifeSiteNews.com 11/19/13
Following the controversy, Civil War documentarian Ken Burns' website learntheaddress.org, added an update to the website saying that President Obama had been asked to read the earlier [draft] version. However, an earlier version of the webpage said simply, “Share your Gettysburg Address.”
In a recent compilation video featuring Obama, every living former president, and other famous people reading the Gettysburg Address, President Jimmy Carter clearly pronounces the words “under God.”
Civil War historians say religion was central to President Lincoln's original address. Dr. Allen Guelzo of Gettysburg College told Albert Mohler that, for President Lincoln, “Gettysburg is almost a religious experience. It’s almost like a revival meeting where citizens come together and experience being born again in the new religion of American democracy.”
The practice of eliding references to God from America's Founding documents has become a habit for President Obama, who has dropped the word “Creator” or other references to God from the Declaration of Independence on numerous occasions. He is believed to be the first president to issue a Thanksgiving address without mentioning God. He has often skipped writing an Easter proclamation altogether.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Gettysburg Address: A short speech long remembered" by Matt Rourke and Mark Scolforo, Associated Press 11/19/13
The inspirational and famously short Gettysburg Address was praised for reinvigorating national ideals of freedom, liberty and justice amid a Civil War that had torn the country into pieces.
"President Lincoln sought to heal a nation's wounds by defining what a nation should be," said Gov. Tom Corbett, calling Lincoln's words superb, his faith deep and his genius profound. "Lincoln wrote his words on paper, but he also inscribed them in our hearts."
In the short oration, he spoke of how democracy itself rested upon "the proposition that all men are created equal," a profound and politically risky statement for the time. Slavery and the doctrine of states' rights would not hold in the "more perfect union" of Lincoln's vision.
President Barack Obama, in a 272-word handwritten essay released by the White House, connected the legacy of Lincoln's address to gay rights, women's rights and modern technological transformations.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
Also read President Obama Redefines 1st Amendment Freedom of Religion even though Obama Denies Leading War Against Christianity
