I don’t know if you’ve seen the film Lincoln or not, but one of the key elements of the plot is an elaborate bribery/patronage scheme that President Lincoln launched to entice members of Congress to vote for the 13th Amendment. These were mostly members who had just lost their bids for reelection, so they were interested in finding new jobs. Considering the cause (abolishing slavery in the Constitution and thereby hastening the Confederacy’s decision to talk peace), there isn’t much wringing of hands in the film (or the commentary on the film) about the morality of Honest Abe’s bribery scheme.

Of course, Lincoln could have just waited for the next Congress to be sworn in and passed the 13th Amendment without bribing anyone, but new Congresses were not seated until March back then and he wanted to use the amendment process to end the war before the new fighting season in the spring. I think you can make the argument that the movie implies: Lincoln’s corrupt scheme was justified because it saved lives. But I also think the movie has gone to some people’s heads. For example, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is applying pressure on President Obama to do more on gun control.

That’s fine, but I think he gets a little delusional (meshugana?) when he questions the president’s leadership in these terms:

Bloomberg suggested that Obama lacks the relationships necessary to pass legislation in Congress. The critique is remarkable coming from a famously irascible mayor with a lackluster history of wooing lawmakers.

“Leaders cajole, bribe, threaten, slather. They build relationships,” said Bloomberg, who compared the president unfavorably to Bill Clinton, “a people person” who used the golf course as an office.

I’m with the mayor on the cajoling, the threatening, and the slathering, but what about the bribery? Do we need to have an investigation into the kinds of bribes Bloomberg has been issuing to get his way in City Hall? Are we not safe in assuming that Bloomberg would not consider himself a worthy leader if he wasn’t issuing bribes?

Or maybe he watched Lincoln and got overexcited.

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