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CHICAGO (CBS) ― One week from Tuesday, Barack Obama will make history as the first African-American to take the presidential oath of office. Another man from Illinois - Abraham Lincoln - was elected to the nation's highest office 148 years ago. CBS WBBM-TV in Chicago's Derrick Blakley takes a look at the connection the two men share as we get closer to the Obama inauguration.

For much of his improbable run to the White House, the second Illinoisan elected president has had an ongoing fascination with the first.

"As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, we are not enemies, but friends," Obama said during his victory address.

Barack Obama officially launched his presidential quest at Springfield's old state capitol.

"--where Lincoln once called on a divided house to stand together," Obama said.

And since then, Obama's openly embraced comparisons and parallels with Lincoln.

"They were both tall, they both had relatively little national experience before becoming president," said DePaul University's Prof. Michael Mezey.

"They both lost their mothers early and were brought up by a woman not their mother," said Abraham Lincoln Bookshop Owner Daniel Weinberg.

"They both are entering the White House at times of great crisis," said Chicago History Museum Curator Peter Alter.

Obama's inauguration theme is "A New Birth of Freedom" - words taken from Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. He'll take the oath of office on the same Bible that Lincoln did.

And, like Lincoln, Obama will travel from Philadelphia to Washington by train.

So many parallels, that artist Ron English created an image of a Lincoln-esque Obama.

"Well, I think much of it is hype," Mezey said.

But Mezey says, one substantial parallel, is both presidents' mastery of words.

"Both President-elect Obama and President Lincoln had very strong oratorical skills, the capacity to move people with their speech," Mezey said.

And, like Lincoln, Obama himself, not his staff, has written much of his most important speeches.

"Rev. Wright's comments were not only wrong but divisive," Obama said.

"I think that was a turning point in that nomination for him; that people saw that he could take a hard issue head on, and he would come out himself and address it," Weinberg said.

There's another link as well - one that revolves around race. Lincoln forged the Emancipation Proclamation, a major step in the long road toward equality that made an African-American president possible.

But, as both an abolitionist and a segregationist, scholars say Lincoln may not have welcomed the result.

"Lincoln completely distanced himself from the notion that blacks could be equal to white people," Mezey said.

Another historic convergence: Obama takes office during the 200th anniversary of Lincoln's birth.

"Perhaps, one could say, that Obama's election is part of process that Lincoln was a part of setting in motion," Alter said.

Obama's embrace of Lincoln's legacy could raise expectations perilously high. But, as Lincoln proved, assuming power during crisis presents both challenge and opportunity.

"Presidential greatness arises when a president comes to office at demanding times," Mezey said.

While there are many parallels with Lincoln, Prof. Mezey believes the economic challenges Obama faces during his presidency are actually reminiscent of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the Great Depression.

(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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