Obama’s New, New Slogan the Same Sign of Failure as the Old Ones

December 6, 2011

President’s Latest Rebranding Effort Just the Latest in a Long Line of Slogans Designed to Distract from Years of Democrat Failure

The White House is unveiling yet another new slogan to distract from the fact that Americans are rejecting the Democrats’ failed policies so soundly that President Obama is polling below one-term former President Jimmy Carter.
It’s a familiar formula for President Obama: give a speech to introduce a new catchphrase and repeat that catchphrase for weeks hoping that it will make the Democrats’ policies more popular.
Rather than admit that their failed, job-destroying policies are the problem, Democrats continue their search for the that elusive perfect slogan.

BACKGROUND

The White House is unveiling yet another new slogan to distract from the fact that Americans are rejecting the Democrats’ failed policies so soundly that President Obama is polling below one-term former President Jimmy Carter:

“OBAMA JOB APPROVAL DROPS BELOW CARTER’S”: (Paul Bedard, “Obama’s Job Approval Drops Below Carter’s,” US News and World Report, 11/29/2011)

“DEMOCRATS WORRIED OBAMA WAS FOLLOWING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF ONE-TERM PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER”: “Democrats worried Obama was following in the footsteps of one-term President Jimmy Carter.” (Peter Schroeder, “Signs of Turning Tide on Economy Lift Democrats, Obama’s Hopes,” The Hill, 12/5/2011)

OBAMA FACES GROWING CARTER COMPARISONS: “Perhaps it’s a risk for any incumbent Democratic president running for re-election, but President Obama now finds himself being compared by Republicans to former President Jimmy Carter.”(Dave Boyer, ” ‘Carter’ Is New GOP Epithet for Obama,” The Washington Times, 12/4/2011)

SO “OBAMA REBOOTS AS ‘TR 2.0′”: (Ron Fournier, “Obama Reboots as ‘TR 2.0,'” National Journal, 12/5/2011)

OBAMA TO GIVE A SPEECH TUESDAY MODELED AFTER TEDDY ROOSEVELT:“Obama will try to give a boost to both priorities and hone his populist campaign message on Tuesday by channeling former U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt during a trip to Osawatomie, Kansas. More than a 100 years ago, Roosevelt delivered a speech in Osawatomie in which he railed against big corporations and the privileged while arguing for ‘fair play’ for ordinary Americans. Obama will echo those themes, aides said.” (Caren Bohan, “Obama Hones Populist Message to Push Economic Agenda,” Reuters, 12/5/2011)

It’s a familiar formula for President Obama: give a speech to introduce a new catchphrase and repeat that catchphrase for weeks hoping that it will make the Democrats’ policies more popular:

A TIMELINE OF “MAJOR” OBAMA SPEECHES THIS YEAR:

SEP. 19, 2011: OBAMA GIVES DEFICIT SPEECH CALLING FOR $1.5 TRILLION TAX HIKE: (“Remarks by the President on Economic Growth and Deficit Reduction,” The White House, 9/19/2011)

SEP. 8, 2011: OBAMA GIVES “MAJOR” JOBS SPEECH CALLING FOR MORE FAILED STIMULUS: (“Address by the President to a Joint Session of Congress,” The White House, 9/8/2011)

JULY 25, 2011: OBAMA DEFENDS HIS BIG-SPENDING AGENDA AMIDST DEBT LIMIT NEGOTIATION: (“Address by the President to the Nation,” The White House, 7/25/2011)

APRIL 13, 2011: OBAMA ATTEMPTS BUDGET RE-DO SPEECH: (“Remarks by the President on Fiscal Policy,” The White House, 4/13/2011)

FEB. 14, 2011: OBAMA ANNOUNCES FIRST BUDGET: (“Remarks by the President on the Unveiling of Budget in Baltimore, Maryland,” The White House, 2/14/2011)

JAN. 25, 2011: STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS WHERE OBAMA CALLS FOR MORE FAILED STIMULUS … ER … “INVESTMENT”: (“Remarks by the President in State of the Union Address,” The White House, 1/25/2011)

Rather than admit that their failed, job-destroying policies are the problem, Democrats continue their search for the that elusive perfect slogan:

CHRONOLOGY OF AN OBAMA SLOGAN

WHITE HOUSE SAID “WE CAN’T WAIT” FOR MORE STIMULUS, EVEN THOUGH THE FIRST ONE FAILED: “President Obama’s growing impatience with Congress’ refusal to ‘pass this bill now’ has launched a new approach — bypassing Congress by taking actions that don’t require congressional support and insisting that ‘We Can’t Wait’ for any more delays on Capitol Hill.” (“President Begins ‘We Can’t Wait’ Economic Push,” Fox News, 10/24/2011)

“WE CAN’T WAIT” WAS PRECEDED BY “PASS THIS BILL NOW”:

“President Obama’s growing impatience with Congress’ refusal to ‘pass this bill now’ has launched a new approach — bypassing Congress by taking actions that don’t require congressional support and insisting that ‘We Can’t Wait’ for any more delays on Capitol Hill.” (“President Begins ‘We Can’t Wait’ Economic Push,” Fox News, 10/24/2011)

OBAMA URGED TO “PASS THIS BILL” DOZENS OF TIMES SINCE SEPTEMBER JOBS RE-DO SPEECH: (“Search ‘pass this bill,'” The White House, Accessed 12/5/2011)

BUT PIVOTED TO “WE CAN’T WAIT” AROUND LATE OCTOBER: (“Search ‘we can’t wait,'” The White House, Accessed 12/5/2011)

WHY “PASS THIS BILL NOW”? BECAUSE DEMS WERE AFRAID TO USE THE WORD “STIMULUS”:

PELOSI TRYING TO RENAME STIMULUS: “Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Democrats have dropped the word ‘stimulus’ from their vocabulary.” (Mike Lillis, “Pelosi Drops the Word ‘Stimulus’,” The Hill, 9/6/2011)

OBAMA’S “NEW AND IMPROVED” JOB PLAN “COULD AMOUNT TO A SIGNIFICANT STIMULUS OF BETWEEN $300 BILLION AND $400 BILLION… BUT [OBAMA] WON’T USE THE WORD”: (David Wessel, “Obama Tries to Rewrite Narrative on Jobs,” The Wall Street Journal, 9/7/2011)

FORMER WH ECONOMIST: MORE STIMULUS, BUT “YOU WON’T HEAR THE S WORD”: “‘You won’t hear the word ‘stimulus’ — the ‘s word’ — because that just is politically unappealing right now,’ Jared Bernstein, who left his post as Vice President Joe Biden’s top economist in June, told us on ABC’s ‘Top Line’ today. ‘But you will hear targeted measures, which I think is actually a more apt description of what I think the president will talk about.'” (Rick Klein, “Obama to Seek Stimulus Funds—But ‘You Won’t Hear the S Word’,” ABC News’ The Note Blog, 8/31/2011)

OBAMA JOBS RE-DO SPEECH USED THE WORD “STIMULUS” ZERO TIMES.(“Address by the President to a Joint Session of Congress,” The White House, 9/8/2011)

DEMS CONTEMPLATED CREATING A “DEPARTMENT OF JOBS”:

WHITE HOUSE CONSIDERED RESHUFFLING THE BUREAUCRACY AND REBRANDING WITH A NEW “DEPARTMENT OF JOBS”: “The administration may also merge the Department of Commerce, the Office of the United States Trade Representative and some economic divisions at the State Department into a new agency, administration officials said. Possible names include the Department of Jobs or the Department of Competitiveness.” (Binyamin Applebaum and Helene Cooper, “White House Debates Fight on Economy,” The New York Times, 8/13/2011)

BEFORE THAT, OBAMA DEBUTED “WIN THE FUTURE” IN HIS STATE OF THE UNION SPEECH:

“STATE OF THE UNION 2011: ‘WIN THE FUTURE,’ OBAMA SAYS,” NEARLY A DOZEN TIMES IN THAT SPEECH ALONE: “Obama repeatedly declared the imperative to ‘win the future,’ comparing the current need for innovation to the space race against the Soviet Union in the 1950s and ’60s. … His overarching theme – of ‘winning the future,’a phrase he used nearly a dozen times – had patriotic underpinnings, part of his effort to reach a broad swath of the electorate and strike a balance between sounding too rosy and too alarmed about America’s standing in the world.” (Anne E. Kornblut and Scott Wilson, “State of the Union 2011: ‘Win the Future,’ Obama Says,” The Washington Post, 1/26/2011)

“WINNING THE FUTURE” WAS ACCOMPANIED BY AN EMPHASIS ON NEW “INVESTMENT”:

OBAMA REFERENCED VARIATIONS ON “INVESTMENT” 13 TIMES IN STATE OF THE UNION SPEECH: (“Remarks by the President in State of the Union Address,” The White House, 1/25/2011)

AND IT ALL BEGAN WITH “STIMULUS”:

WHICH, BY OBAMA’S ADMISSION, WAS A CODE-WORD FOR ANOTHER MALIGNED CONCEPT: “SPENDING”: “So then you get the argument, well, this is not a stimulus bill, this is a spending bill. What do you think a stimulus is? (Laughter and applause.) That’s the whole point. No, seriously. (Laughter.) That’s the point. (Applause.)” (“Remarks by the President at House Democratic Caucus Issues Conference,” TheWhite House, 2/5/2009)

AND WE CAN’T FORGET “GREEN JOBS”… WHICH, BY THE WAY, “WE CAN’T WAIT” FOR:

OBAMA SAID HIS 2009 BUDGET WOULD CREATE “GREEN JOBS”: “[T]his budget will spark the transformation we need to create green jobs and launch renewable energy companies right here in California.” (“Remarks by the President at Costa Mesa Town Hall,” The White House, 3/18/2009)

GUILT BY OMISSION? “GREEN JOBS” APPEARED ZERO TIMES IN OBAMA JOBS RE-DO SPEECH. (“Address by the President to a Joint Session of Congress,” The White House, 9/8/2011)

“CLEAN ENERGY” APPEARED ZERO TIMES. (“Address by the President to a Joint Session of Congress,” The White House, 9/8/2011)