Let's go to the lengthy transcript, which the White House just posted from last night's big-ticket fund-raiser at the Highland Park home of the attorney and his wife, a former president of Dallas Area Habitat for Humanity. Before the politics, a shout-out to his traveling mate ("I want to also say thank you for doing such a great job training my Ambassador Ron Kirk") and this note:
I was reminded of a story Abraham Lincoln used to tell about a guy who came to see him looking for patronage work. He had really tried to get in to see the President, and back then security was a little more lax than it is now. And eventually he got an audience with the President, and he looked at Lincoln and he said, "You know, I am responsible for you being in office. If it wasn't for me, you would not be here." And Lincoln said, "Is that true?" He said, "Yes." He said, "Well, I forgive you." (Laughter.)
There are times, given all the grey hairs that I've been accumulating here over the last two years, that I understand Lincoln's joke. But obviously being President is the most extraordinary privilege that anyone could have, and with it comes such sober responsibilities. That's particularly at a time of great national challenge.
