Bush, Obama Issue Thanksgiving Messages

November 27, 2008 9:14 a.m. EST

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - President George W. Bush and President-elect Barack Obama both invoked Abraham Lincoln in their Thanksgiving messages on Thursday. Bush, making his last holiday address, spoke again of the honor he felt serving as commander-in-chief while his successor, giving his first, continued to focus on the "economic crisis of historic proportions."

"This holiday season is a time of fellowship and peace. And it is a time to give thanks for our many blessings," Bush said in his weekly radio address. "When President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving a national holiday in 1863, the United States was in the midst of a terrible civil war. But in that hour of trial he gave thanks -- because he believed America would weather the storm and emerge into a new era of liberty."

"We give thanks for those who defend our freedom. America's men and women in uniform deserve our highest respect -- and so do the families who love and support them. Lately, I have been asked what I will miss about the presidency. And my answer is that I will miss being the Commander-in-Chief of these brave warriors," he said.

"During this holiday season, we give thanks for the kindness of citizens throughout our Nation. It is a testament to the goodness of our people that on Thanksgiving, millions of Americans reach out to those who have little... the generous volunteers who bring comfort to the poor and the sick and the elderly. These men and women are selfless members of our Nation's armies of compassion - and they make our country a better place, one heart and one soul at a time," Bush added.

"Finally, I have a special note of thanks to the American people. On this, my last Thanksgiving as your President, I am thankful for the good will, kind words, and heartfelt prayers that so many of you have offered me during the past eight years. I have been blessed to represent such decent, brave, and caring people. For that, I will always be grateful, and I will always be honored," he said.

Obama, giving the weekly Democratic radio address, also spoke about the first Thanksgiving "in one of the darkest years of our nation's history."

"Lincoln said in his first Thanksgiving decree that difficult times made it even more appropriate for our blessings to be - and I quote - 'gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American people,'" the president-elect said. "This Thanksgiving also takes place at a time of great trial for our people. Across the country, there were empty seats at the table, as brave Americans continue to serve in harm's way from the mountains of Afghanistan to the deserts of Iraq... At home, we face an economic crisis of historic proportions."

Declaring only "bold and immediate action" and the "strength of the American people" will let the nation overcome the crisis, Obama said, "I have seen this strength firsthand over many months... in teachers who stay late after school, and parents who put in that extra hour reading to their kids. It is a testament to our national character that so many Americans took time out this Thanksgiving to help feed the hungry and care for the needy."

"That's the spirit we must summon as we make a new beginning for our nation. Times are tough. There are difficult months ahead. But we can renew our nation the same way that we have in the many years since Lincoln's first Thanksgiving: by coming together to overcome adversity; by reaching for - and working for - new horizons of opportunity for all Americans," the president-elect concluded.