ON "FORWARD"
Reposted from October 12, 2012

“Forward.”  It certainly has a promising and uplifting ring to it.

Much like Obama’s 2008 campaign slogan of “hope and change”, President Obama’s 2012 election slogan seeks to inspire Americans by encouraging them not to look backwards but “forward.”  In the recent Presidential debate, President Obama acknowledged, “We all know that we’ve still got a lot of work to do.  And so the question here tonight is not where we’ve been, but where we’re going.”

As inspiring as “Forward” is, I’m not convinced President Obama, himself, embraces his own political outlook.  This is simply because he consistently uses the past to explain why his first term failed to produce the hope and change he promised.  Further, Obama’s main argument against Mitt Romney is that Romney’s policies would bring Americans back to the policies that brought them to where they are now.

That’s why I think his slogan of “Forward” is misleading.  We can’t consider how we will move forward without considering where we have been.  President Obama certainly knows this.  My assumption is that Mr. Obama’s use of “forward” is merely a means to distract Americans from focusing on the failures of the past.  Mr. Obama has consistently cherry-picked history to highlight events that he believes prevented his first term from being successful (admittedly, there were certainly significant challenges).  However, he never acknowledges the failures of his own presidency.  To me, an honest and virtuous man acknowledges all of history—both good and bad—and takes responsibility for his shortcomings.  It is a child that rationalizes his bad behavior by saying in the future he’ll be better.

Pressing forward to the future is certainly important.  However, it is time for our leaders to acknowledge their failures.  Further, it is time for Americans to hold leaders accountable.  We can look forward to the future but we must consider our past.