Re: never too old to learn...
There's a small contingent on the Right which seems obsessed with proving that Lincoln was some sort of a bastard, but usually it's about him trampling on state's rights and setting new precendents for Federal authority.
I doubt Lincoln's views on race were all that much different than most people's views back then. At the time, a common "enlightened" view was that blacks were inherently inferior, but should be treated well. If I shut out every famous person born in the early 19th century for being a racist on some level, there wouldn't be a lot of people left.
Lincoln was about 17 when Thomas Jefferson died. It's easy to forget how short a time "four score and twenty years" is.