Obama the No. 1 Divider? Tell it to Lincoln or Bush

By Jill Lawrence // May 21, 2012 | 2:02 p.m.

President Barack Obama mingles before the meeting on Afghanistan during the NATO Summit, Monday, May 21, 2012, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Republicans often accuse President Obama of being divisive, whether he's talking about tax rates for the wealthy or the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. One adviser to Mitt Romney, GOP strategist Ed Gillespie, calls Obama "one of the most divisive presidents in American history." Sen. Marco Rubio upped the ante last weekend when he said that "we have not seen such a divisive figure in modern American history" since Obama took office.

Please. Tell that to Abraham Lincoln or, if we're limiting ourselves to modern history, to Franklin D. Roosevelt, Bill Clinton or George W. Bush.