President Obama’s new campaign slogan – “Betting on America” – is slightly less atrocious than his prior attempts at bumper sticker politics, “Forward,” “Winning The Future,” “A Fair Shot,” “An America Built To Last,” and “We Can’t Wait.” It’s a rather ham-fisted attempt to bash Mitt Romney for supposedly outsourcing jobs – a claim coordinated between the White House and its media allies, and falsely exaggerated by Obama’s friends.
The slogan, “Betting on America,” is reminiscent of other presidential campaign slogans, including John McCain’s “Country First.” But it’s more than reminiscent of sloganeering used by President Bill Clinton – it’s a direct rip-off of his language. “I’m betting on America,” Clinton said in 1995 remarks in Denver. “I’m betting that the best is yet to come.”
But there’s another problem for Obama: when he says he’s “betting on America,” we know he’s lying. Obama is betting on government, not Americans. He doesn’t believe that Americans ought to be able to choose their own healthcare, pick their own vehicles, or keep their own cash. Instead, we ought to turn over control to the benevolent fellows in Washington, D.C., who clearly know better than we do what to do with our lives.
More than that, though, President Obama is betting – he’s betting on his agenda, using the money he borrows from China to do so. Obama’s laying down regulatory gambles on the roulette wheel … and he’s waiting for the next generation to swing by in a few years to pick up the tab. Obama’s betting record is shoddy thus far: Solyndra is merely the most obvious example of Obama picking and choosing winners. And more often than not, those winners end up being losers.
Obama’s real slogan ought to be: “Betting Your Future.” Are you comfortable with him wagering your financial and ethical future on his political allies?