Evan Vucci/AP
President Barack Obama spent Tuesday afternoon speaking with Wall Street Journal’s Gerald Seib at a CEO event, instead of marking the anniversary of the Gettysburg Address.
President Obama couldn’t attend an event to mark the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address Tuesday, because it “didn’t work schedule-wise,” a top Obama aide said.
“I don’t know, there’s this whole website thing that someone suggested might destroy the Dem Party,” Obama’s top communications advisor Dan Pfeiffer tweeted in a message directed at reporters, referring to the botched Obamacare website rollout plaguing the Democratic party.
RELATED: LENGTH OF LINCOLN’S GETTYSBURG ADDRESS CONTINUES TO INSPIRE ON 150TH ANNIVERSARY
Instead, Obama opted to charm executives attending The Wall Street Journal CEO Council at the Four Seasons Hotel, Washington, D.C. — where a reference to Abraham Lincoln’s address didn’t merit a mention in Obama’s remarks.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
President Obama, who lists President Lincoln among his heroes, said he was busy fixing the botched Obamacare website rollout and couldn’t attend a ceremony in Gettysburg to mark the 150th anniversary of Lincoln’s famous speech.
Though he didn’t manage to attend a ceremony to honor the day, he did release a handwritten note praising the 272 word message by Lincoln at the height of the American Civil War.
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Interior Secretary Sally Jewell represented the Obama administration at a Tuesday ceremony, held at the Pennsylvania battle site.
In deference to Lincoln’s brevity, Jewell kept her remarks to 272 words — a welcome relief to the gathered crowds shivering in the bitter cold.
whitehouse.gov
President Obama, who could not attend the Gettysburg ceremony because of scheduling conflicts, did pen a handwritten essay on the importance of the message.
In a nod to the historic address, Obama took part in reciting the inspiring words for a Ken Burns documentary but he managed to spark a semantic scandal by opting to read a version of the speech that omitted a reference to God.
The most well-known version of the 1863 speech is known as the “Bliss Copy,” displayed on the wall of the Lincoln Memorial, which refers to “this nation, under God.”
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Matt Rourke/AP
Throngs of guests attended a ceremony commemorating the 150th anniversary of address at the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Penn.
Instead, Obama read from the “Nicolay copy” of the speech, that omits a mention of the Almighty.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Tuesday that the President read the copy of the speech provided by the filmmaker.
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“I think Ken Burns is a noted Civil War scholar,” Carney said.
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