A birthday wish: Save Abe from obscurity

Illinois license plates have displayed the slogan “Land of Lincoln” for a long time.

When the plates were redesigned in 2001, they also began to carry an image of Abraham Lincoln based on a familiar photograph of the 16th president.

Lincoln’s face appears in the middle of the plate. As long as sufficient space exists between the left and right groupings of numbers and letters, the Great Emancipator’s face can peer between them, unobstructed.

But more and more, it seems, Lincoln’s face has become a background piece of art that can be obscured at will by license plate makers.

We don’t think that’s right.

Lincoln’s face isn’t obscured on the penny.

It isn’t obscured on the five-dollar bill.

Abe’s face isn’t partially covered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

It isn’t half-hidden on his bust at Lincoln’s Tomb in Springfield.

Walk into the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, and the life-like Lincoln mannequin’s face is not partly covered.

Check out the Lincoln statues along the riverfront in Dixon or at Propheter Park in Sterling, and you can see a full, not partial, view of his face.

In history books, magazines and all other depictions of the face of America’s greatest president, you don’t find it intentionally obscured.

But, on Illinois motor vehicle license plates, you do.

We understand what the intention is – to combine the image and the license numbers in an artistic way.

However, on many license plates, the effect is a failure.

Lincoln’s 203rd birthday is Sunday. The anniversary is an opportunity for state legislators and the Illinois Secretary of State’s office to reconsider how Lincoln’s image is used on license plates.

We believe it should be used in a manner where it is never obscured, or don’t use it at all.

If the choice is to pursue a newly designed plate that respects Lincoln’s image, it should be phased in gradually to minimize the cost for our cash-strapped state.

While leaders are at it, they should give another look at a 2010 money-saving proposal by state Rep. Jerry Mitchell, R-Sterling. He called for the state to discontinue front plates and issue only rear plates.