Why Obama’s 'Forward' campaign takes America backward

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President Obama's latest campaign re-branding, Photo: AP

HAWAII, April 30, 2012 – President Barack Obama’s latest political ad, “Forward” attempts to cast his four years in office as a rolled up sleeve, dynamic presidency in which, having inherited a financial crisis from the Bush Administration, Obama saved America.

The ad cycles through a timeline of disasters starting with the financial crisis in 2008 and ramps up to show Obama opposed by the Tea Party and right wing radio hosts yet boldly pushing through edict after edict, ranging from TARP to Obamacare to the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and more.

Viewers are led to believe that Obama’s leadership was somehow responsible for the “recovery” of American business and the way of life and though much work remains, Obama is taking us forward.

The problem with this view is that, quite simply, it is a work of fiction. America is going backward into decline. Americans are paying more than ever for food, housing, education and energy.

In a mistaken analysis of the economy, President Obama and his supporters believed that the reason for our recession was that credit was in a pinch and that people weren’t buying enough, so they injected billions of dollars into the economy to boost aggregate demand (aka “stimulus”) and kept interest rates at the Federal Reserve low to get people to buy more. But instead of people buying more, the only thing these interventionist strategies accomplished was to get people spending more.

Obama, who cast himself as an anti-war candidate, came into office and waged the worst kind of undeclared war of all: a currency war against the dollar in an effort to debase our currency so far down relative to other world currencies based on a flawed economic theory that a weak USD means more exports and more profits.

The only thing the currency war accomplished was propping up shaky, insolvent corporations with a false image of value through inflated stock prices and CEO bonuses but it brought suffering to the average American who makes money by working, not speculating paper for a living.

While Obama is busy taking regular taxpayer financed vacations around the world, many Americans have to work two or even three jobs just to keep pace with the decline of their purchasing power and the increase of prices. Shamefully, Obama takes no responsibility for the side effects of his economic policies but instead chooses to assign blame to others.

America is also weaker at home and abroad than it has ever been in the last 60 years. Our military is forced to make do with aging equipment spread thin in unsustainable deployments while its servicemembers grapple with rising incidents of PTSD and drug addiction. Our Navy is being reduced to a token force, our Air Force is stuck with aircraft so old that two, even three generations of pilots have flown and our Army is broken.

Though it is clear Obama is not solely responsible for the decline of America, his presidency has accelerated it and transformed our way of life into one of sacrifice over hope and positive change. But the saddest part about this continuing crisis is the fact that no matter who wins in November, America will never be the same again after Obama’s first term.

“Forward” is the new backward for America under Obama.


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Danny de Gracia

Danny de Gracia is a political scientist, an ordained minister and a former senior adviser to committee chairs of the Hawaii State House of Representatives.  He currently lives in Hawaii. 

Contact Danny de Gracia

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