根据以下资料，回答题：
        Not often in the story of mankind does a man arrive on earth who is both steel and velvet, who is as hard as rock and soft as drifting fog, who knows in his heart and mind the paradox of terrible storm and peace unspeakable and perfect．Here and there across centuries come reports of men alleged to have these contrasts and the incomparable  Abraham Lincoln, born 150 years ago this day, is an approach if not a perfect realization of this character．
        In the time of the April lilacs in the year 1865, Lincoln's death, the casket with his body was carried northwest  a thousand miles and the American people wept as never before．During the four years he was President he at  times, especially in the first three months, took to himself the powers of a dictator．He commanded the most  powerful armies then assembled in modern warfare．He enforced and cruised conscription of soldiers for the first  time in American history．
        And under imperative necessity, he abolished the writ of habeas corpus．He directed politically and spiritually．the wild, massive turbulent forces let loose in Civil War, a war truly as time has shown, of brothers．He argued and  pleaded for compensated emancipation of the slaves．The slaves were property．They were on the tax books along  with horses and cattle, the valuation of each slave written next to his name on the tax assessor's books．And failing  to get action of compensated emancipation, he took the only other course．As a Chief Executive having war powers  he issued the paper by which he declared the slaves to be free under military．People, people in many other  countries take Lincoln now for their own．He belongs to them．He stands for decency, honest dealing, plain tall and  funny stories．Look where he came from, don't you know he was a struggler and wasn't he a kind of tough struggler   all his life right up to the finish? Something like that you can hear in a nearby neighborhood and across the seas．   Millions there are who take Lincoln as a personal treasure．He had something they would like to see spread   everywhere all over the world--democracy．We can't find the words to say exactly what it is, but he had it．In his   blood and bones he carried it．In the breath of his speeches and writings it is there．Popular government, republican   institutions government where the people had the say so, one way or another telling their elected leaders what they   want．He had the idea．He embodied it．It's there in the lights and shadows of his personality, a mystery that can be   lived but never fully spoken in words．
        Today, when we say perhaps that well assured and most enduring memory onto Lincoln is invisibly there today, tomorrow and for a long time yet to come, it is there in the hearts of the lovers of liberty．Men and women in this country have always had them in crises--men and women who understand that wherever there is freedom, there have been those who have fought, toiled and sacrificed for it．

What does the author suggest as far as Abraham Lincoln's characteristics are concerned?