In October 2010, just before Democrats were routed at the polls in November, MSNBC unveiled their official new slogan, “Lean Forward.” “We’ve taken on CNN and we beat them,” MSNBC President Phil Griffin told employees at the time “Now it’s time to take on Fox.” Unfortunately, MSNBC has done nothing but tread water since. They still trail Fox by more than 2-to-1 in primetime ratings. But that lack of success has not stopped others from copying them.
Today, the Obama campaign released a new video featuring the president’s official new campaign slogan. It’s like MSNBC’s, but 50% pithier: “Forward.” The seven-minute Obama video mercifully spares us from footage of Al Sharpton extolling the virtues of blueberry pie, but the message is virtually the same: Republicans caused all the trouble in the world and then Obama came in and fixed everything.
The video opens with ominous music and dour headlines concluding that the Bush economy lost 4.4 million jobs. But then Obama was inaugurated and 4.2 million jobs were magically “saved” by the stimulus. No mention is made of the inconvenient fact that, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the nation also lost another 4.3 million jobs in Obama’s first 13 months in office.
The video then clicks through the “progress” Obama has made including the auto bailout, “Credit Card reform,” “Wall Street reform,” “Health Care Reform,” “Wind and Solar Power Doubled,” “Middle Class Taxes at Historic Lows,” “Student Loan Reform,” and “Fair Pay Act for Women.” No mention is made of our record high stint of plus-8 percent unemployment or our $15.6 trillion deficit.
Coming up with a campaign slogan when the vast majority of Americans believe the country is “seriously off on the wrong track” must be hard. It could have been worse. At least Obama isn’t promising a Great Leap Forward.
Campaign 2012
Obama: Bill Clinton raised more than $2 million for Obama at former-DNC chairman Terry McAuliffe’s last night.
Romney: According to USA Today, details of Romney’s economic plan keep evolving.
Veepstakes: Paul Ryan is the subject of a front page New York Times profile today. From the story: “His prescriptions in the Republican budget plan he devised have become his party’s marching orders: cut income tax rates and simplify the code, privatize Medicare, shrink the food-stamp and Medicaid programs and turn almost all control over to the states, and reduce domestic federal spending to its smallest share of the economy since World War II. … Outside of Mitt Romney, the likely Republican presidential nominee, Mr. Ryan may be the party’s most important figure, said William Bennett, the conservative luminary and a mentor of Mr. Ryan’s going back to the congressman’s early 20s.”
Around the Bigs
The Wall Street Journal, UAW Freezes Rival Out of Rebound: As part of a deal struck with GM during the bailout, the UAW has forbidden any non-union workers from being hired back by GM.
Righty Playbook
Walter Russell Mead notes that The New York Times forgot to inform their readers that Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is winning his recall election campaign.
At Hot Air, responds to the Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein op-ed claiming “Republicans are the problem.”
At The Corner, Center for Immigration Studies Director Mark Krikorian explains how Romney should address the DREAM Act.
Lefty Playbook
ThinkProgress hits Romney for telling students to “borrow money if you have to from your parents” to pay for college.
The Washington Post‘s Suzy Khim outlines the three-pronged plan for their “War on Women.”
Talking Points Memo notes that Romney aide Eric Fehrnstrom told The Washington Post that ““[Romney’s] position on the bailout was exactly what President Obama followed.”
