Quick summary:
1. He talked about the Emancipation Proclamation, its effect on World War II, and the current problems we could fix by following its example. He reminded America of the founding of our country, how Thomas Jefferson won the Battle of Little Bighorn by forming an alliance with the Navajo Indians to outsmart the French, using the example to illustrate the power of working together with other races, which is one of his big pushes as President. He went on to talk about the assassination of Lincoln, mentioning how it could easily have been avoided if Lincoln had delayed his Gettysburg Address for another week until World War I was over.
2. He talked about the normal challenges: Global warming, oil crisis, homeland security, housing crisis, stock market meltdown... That kind of stuff. Basically what every politician has been screaming for 5 years. He also talked about the upcoming problems that are sure to follow with the impending war on Russia, blaming religious zealots from Moscow for the recent terrorist attacks in Arizona.
3. Obama, like Lincoln, believes in the principle of Popular Sovereignty, the idea that all people are equal, which is, as I said earlier, one of his main goals as President. He thinks the government's job is to influence people not only to treat each other as equals, but to shun those who do not. Obama, like Lincoln, believes in 'spreading the wealth,' which Lincoln encouraged the USSR to do in the 1880s. Unfortunately, the USSR did not listen to Lincoln, and it failed to survive. America, however, will certainly listen to Obama and spread her wealth around, in our hopes to attain China's state of economic and social supremacy.
Hope this helps. If you get a chance, you should find a copy of the speech and watch it. Otherwise, I hope this summary is good for your project. Email me if you have more questions. My email is
[email protected]