DID OBAMA SPEECHWRITERS TAKE LINCOLN’S “FUEL OF INTEREST” QUOTE OUT OF CONTEXT?
— In a lecture on February 11, 1859, Abraham Lincoln said, “The patent system changed this; secured to the inventor, for a limited time, the exclusive use of his invention; and thereby added the fuel of interest to the fire of genius, in the discovery and production of new and useful things.” (Italics added.) On April 27, 2009, in a speech to the National Academy of Sciences, President Barack Obama quoted just the italicized portions. Obama said, “Lincoln refused to accept that our nation’s sole purpose was merely to survive. He created this academy, founded the land grant colleges, and began the work of the transcontinental railroad, believing that we must add ‘the fuel of interest to the fire of genius, in the discovery . . . of new and useful things.’” (Ellipsis Obama’s.) The Obama text did not recognize that Lincoln’s “fuel of interest” was the patent system and Lincoln said it fueled “production” as well as discovery. Pulling quotes out of context may be acceptable in political s
