Obama’s ‘under God’ omission in Gettysburg Address sparks fire

President Obama’s recitation of the Gettysburg Address for a Ken Burns documentary about the famous speech sparked a round of backlash after a local news radio host first noticed and reported a curious omission: He left out the phrase “under God.”

Chris Plante of “The Chris Plante Show” reported the discrepancy this week,  and it wasn’t long after that the story caught on media fire. His WMAL report, posted on Breitbart, stated: “Curiously enough, in his version of the speech, President Barack Obama’s delivery contained an omission — in a line that every other celebrity delivered as ’that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom,’ the President left out the words, ’under God.’”

Following, CNN reported that Mr. Obama — who claims a longtime affinity for President Abraham Lincoln, who delivered the brief remarks on Nov. 19, 1863 — was the only person of several who taped a version of the speech to post to Mr. Burns’ documentary site that didn’t include mention of “under God.” Other media outlets subsequently clarified that Mr. Obama was reading a version of the speech that doesn’t actually include the words “under God.” And liberal and mainstream sites rushed to slam those who found the omission in any way strange.

Raw Story, for example, slammed the conservative outcry with the headline “Conservatives flip out after Obama reads original Gettysburg Address without ’under God.’”

In hasty response, the Ken Burns website www.learntheaddress.org posted this message: “Did you know there are five versions of the Gettysburg Address? We asked President Obama to read the first, the Nicolay Version,” which does not contain the phrase “under God.”