Forward! To What We Do Not Know

The Obama campaign announced it’s 2012 campaign slogan: Forward. Forward to what exactly isn’t clear from either the campaign or the President’s recent rhetoric. One could ask the same of progressives, what exactly are we progressing towards. Surely there is something we’re progressing or moving forward towards. What Obama’s end game is hasn’t been clear, what his second term goals are at this point is even less clear. We’ve wondered before what Obama’s second term goals are and it remains a mystery. If the GOP controls Congress the best bet is that a second Obama term would look a lot like the last year.

Forward is a curious slogan choice for a President who has long been accused of being a socialist or perhaps even a Marxist. It took conservative bloggers and news outlets all of thirty seconds to figure out that among Marxists the term Forward has great meaning. Several communist publications bare the name Forward. The Marxist view of history is that we are progressing towards a Communist utopia and we have to march forward through capitalism and socialism to get there. Surely if conservatives can figure out that Forward has that meaning in the Marxist, progressive world the Obama campaign knew as well. In fact, a slogan like this surely went by Obama himself. Are we to believe he had no idea what the left has used Forward for in the past?

The campaign must have calculated that the general public will be more starry eyed at the slogan than others they considered. They likely also calculated that the general public wouldn’t be interested in conservatives attack on the slogan, they must have a strategy of either playing dumb or distancing themselves from Forward’s communist ties already in place. Nevertheless, for a President who has been dogged by accusations of socialism, whose ties to Communists are numerous it’s a curious choice of slogan. They know what Forward means, they simply don’t care.

What exactly are we moving forward towards? The last three years we’ve seen unemployment above 8%. We’ve seen $5 trillion in new government debt created under Obama. Food stamps are up 75% since 2007. Gas prices have doubled. Real inflation is around 8%. The middle class is in a worse position today than it was when Obama took office. What exactly are we moving forward to? More food stamps, more welfare programs, more debt, more inflation, $5/gallon gas? Are we moving forward to the Obama administration filing more frivolous lawsuits against states like the Arizona immigration case currently at the Supreme Court? Are we moving forward towards more voter ID laws being illegally challenged by the administration? Are we moving forward to more racial and class divisions created by the President’s rhetoric?

The last few months we haven’t seen Obama move forward on anything. He’s proposed no new legislation, he’s offered up no new ideas and he’s certainly not offered to compromise on anything with the Republicans. He’s spent most of his time fundraising and attacking anyone who disagrees with him. The positive outlook of hope and change has become very negative and cynical. Is this what Obama wants to take us forward towards: Negativity and cynicism? With no plans on the table for a second term one has to wonder what he wants to move the nation forward towards. That he’s chosen a slogan that draws us all back to his radical left-wing roots doesn’t help him one bit. Forward won’t draw any new supporters.