Apparently, that’s the new Obama slogan. Of course, to a guy like me, Obama seems much more “Backward” than “Forward.” In 2008, I was terribly surprised at what kind of Democrat Obama was: a McGovernite. His platform and rhetoric were warmed-over McGovernism, basically. I thought this was odd for a man born in 1961. It was as though the entire Reagan experience, the end of the Cold War, and even the DLC (the Democratic Leadership Council) had passed him by. He was like some item from a time capsule.
“Forward,” they say. Forward to the kind of world sought by Olof Palme, Pierre Trudeau, and the sociology department at Bennington College. Great, just great.