Last night, Dan Rather invoked Lincoln in a Facebook post directed to the citizens of The United States Of America, cautioning them on a man desiring to be their President. Rather said, “To anyone who still pretends this is a normal election of Republican against Democrat, history is watching. And I suspect its verdict will be harsh. Many have tried to do a side-shuffle and issue statements saying they strongly disagree with his rhetoric but still support the candidate. That is becoming woefully insufficient. The rhetoric is the candidate.”

To be clear, I am not a Hillary Clinton supporter. My opposition to the Republican candidate is not a signal of my endorsement of Secretary Clinton. Neither will my vote be an endorsement. I once told my wife, “I will never vote for Hillary Clinton.” I could not anticipate what I’m watching unfold in this election.

I am greatly disturbed by this man’s blatant appeals to the basest of human emotions. He plays on fear and hatred. I don’t care what the intent of his words in this latest “gaffe” was. The spin has come, but the words and tone were clear, even to those in attendance. Watch the faces of the crowd behind him, laughing. But this is no joke.

So, Mr. Rather summoned Abraham Lincoln, using words from his first inaugural address. Lincoln said in closing, “We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”

We must not be enemies. We are better than this.

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