Obama and Snowden as Lincoln and Douglass?

By Tracy Mitrano. I am historian who has a law degree, so don’t expect an exegesis on the legal definition of a whistleblower and map it to rules that defined Mr. Snowden's employment and security clearance. Instead, my mind goes to James Oaks’ “The Radical and the Republican: Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and the Triumph of Antislavery Politics.” It is a wonderful story. Lincoln started his career as a politician and ended it a radical reformer; Douglass’s life was the reverse. But the real magic is the moment when their paths crossed. During the Civil War, Lincoln received Douglass at the White House. Read more...