Obama Decides to Go “Forward”

Ironically, Obama begins his campaign for reelection with a socialist slogan.

Four years after his election, Barack Obama again begins campaigning with militant high energy. That goes for the content of his speeches (both to-the-point and humorous) as well as his clothes (shirtsleeves, no necktie). It also applies to his platform (social justice, ending America’s wars, equality and emancipation). Finally, it’s also apparent in his new slogan. After he won in 2008 running on “hope and change,” he’s now going to campaign with the theme “forward.”

Yes, you read that right: Obama is running under the slogan “forward” — in the United States, of all places, where many think calling someone a socialist is an insult. It’s a motto that was historically used by Karl Marx and by the Socialists.

But the choice of words is only surprising at first glance. In the context of the United States, where an obscene chasm divides those with low incomes from those who profited from the economic crisis, it makes perfect sense. Obama uses the term “forward” much as protestors used it as their leitmotif as they occupied numerous public squares and parks last autumn. He is inviting them to join him. But that alone won’t make the slogan an effective campaign motto.

European history is far removed from American voters, so it will not play a role in the outcome of the U.S. election. But for voters, the word “forward” has a unique and different significance. It is dynamic, reminiscent of athletic achievement and is simultaneously a verbal gesture that beckons toward the future.

Therein lies the slogan’s risk for Obama. Republicans recognized that fact immediately, and the slogan had hardly begun circulating before Republicans had issued their own video response to it. Their video drains every historical and ideological meaning from the word and makes it into the exact opposite. The Republican message reads: Obama will take America “backwards” into more unemployment and higher debt.