Above is President Obama's new campaign slogan. On the surface it means that he wants to take America and the American people forward. By and large, I think we can all agree that this is a good thing. Nobody wants to go backward.
But what's the subtext? That President Obama wants to take America and the American people forward? No, no, no. It's far more sinister.
Thankfully we have people in this country that know the true meaning of "forward", as well as what Obama's next move as president would be if he wins the 2012 election. Just a note for all my conservative readers: I'm being facetious in that last sentence. Forward means forward and little else.
ThinkProgress reports:
Breitbart.com’s Joel Pollak explained that the ‘Forward’ “borrows…from decades of communist iconography.” Pollak checks off a litany of scary historixcal world leaders whose lineage Obama is supposedly following, from Marx, Stalin, and Mao, to Benito Mussolini, to Thabo Mbeki, the former president of South Africa. “Communist leaders frequently used — and still use — the word ‘forward,’” he notes.
The Washington Times also sees a “rich association with European Marxism,” quoting at length from Wikipedia to prove the point.
Meanwhile, ever-hyperbolic blogger Jim Hoft went straight for Hitler, writing that ‘Forward’ was a “marching song of the Hitler youth.” He added a helpful illustration of Hitler Youth wearing Obama pins.
Even the generally more staid Bill Kristol of the Weekly Standard sees only one conceivable precedent for ‘Forward’: Mao. Along with a picture of Obama appearing to bow to Chinese President Hu Jin Tao, Kristol wonders, “So if ‘Forward’ is the slogan for the Obama campaign, would ‘Cultural Revolution’ be the slogan for the second term?”
As you have probably already guessed, I find Joel Pollak, Jim Hoft, and Bill Kristol to be grasping at straws that don't exist. They're clearly hallucinating. And while I try to argue without using personal attack, uhh, I find these three men to be fucking stupid. Period. To get all of this nonsense from one word, not to mention to compare President Obama to Hitler, Mussolini, and Mao, is vile at best.
The author of the ThinkProgress article, Alex Seitz-Wald, then brilliantly points out something that I never would have thought of:
It’s also the state motto of Wisconsin, so unless Kristol et. al. are willing to concede that Republican Gov. Scott Walker and the state’s 6 million residents are abiding the communist/fascist threat, the attack on Obama falls a bit flat.
And it does. Say what you will about President Obama's current record as it stands, but don't go making asinine assumptions as to what he will do in a second term.
Despite the rhetoric from the Right, I'm still left to wonder... if Republicans/Conservatives can attack a word as simple as "Forward", would that mean that they wouldn't take the country forward if presented with the opportunity? What if Mitt Romney's campaign had gone with "Forward"?
Let's just admit the double standards here. Regardless of what Obama says and does, he's always going to be viewed by the Right as some Communist/Socialist wanna-be with Hitler-esque intentions (which doesn't make sense, as history would agree - Hitler despised liberalism and socialism). Obama and Romney could deliver the same speech, word for word, about moving this country forward, and the Right would still view Obama as the socialist extremist, and Romney as their Capitalist, patriotic deity.
So pundits and bloggers alike, hear my words! If facts back up your statement, say what you need to say. But don't go making waves based on false claims and ridiculous conspiracies. Notice how I called the three men above "fucking stupid." I'd even go as far as to call them assholes. And I can do that because, factually, their records indicate that they are both of those things. President Obama is not Hitler. He is not Mao. He is not a Socialist. Facts support that.
Oh, and one other thing. This is kind of a pet peeve of mine, but I'm sure I'm not alone. GOP and GOP voters, please stop comparing Obama to Adolf Hitler. The only person on this planet like Hitler... was Hitler. Few monsters come close. The insinuations you are making when you compare the POTUS to the man that ordered millions of people to be killed are greater than you can imagine. And it immediately makes me believe that you are, in fact, scum. You are trivializing the evil that was Hitler (which is insulting to Holocaust victims and survivors) by making him seem as decent as Obama and simultaneously shitting on Obama's accomplishments by saying that Hitler would have done the same thing.
I hope I worded that right. If any of it comes off as rude or insensitive, I apologize. If you have compared President Obama to Hitler (ever), then I do not apologize. You are garbage.
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