Ronald Reagan famously asked “are you better off than you were four years ago?”
It was a hugely important moment in the 1980 campaign. Just a week before the election, Reagan made his case for “change” directly to the American people.
Because it was powerful, it has been used in one form or another over the last 32 years (who says politicians can’t learn?).
What’s interesting is to see how President Barack Obama has chosen to use the phrase.
In 2008, this is what your then future president said:
“It is time…to try something new. The question in this election is not ‘Are you better off than you were four years ago?’ We all know the answer to that. The real question is, ‘Will this country be better off four years from now?’”, said then Senator Barack Obama at a campaign event in Canton, OH, on Oct. 27, 2008,
That phrase, again, very close to election day, reflected the hope and optimism represented by the Obama campaign.
My, how things have changed.
$16 trillion in debt. No budget for three years. Consistently over 8% unemployment. The greatest percentage of people not even seeking work (in other words, they’ve given up) since January of 1981 (Reagan’s first week in office!). It’s a mess.
So, what does Obama ask today?
“The real question, the question that will actually make a difference in your life, and the lives of your children, it’s not just about how we’re doing today, but how we’ll be doing tomorrow,” said President Obama at his campaign “kick off” in Columbus, Ohio, today.
I’m sure we’ll hear a similar refrain here in Virginia.
He still doesn’t want you looking back four years. Asking in 2008 to give him a chance at creating a better country in his first four years, we know now that he would prefer you forget them.
The president would rather you forget these last four years, with his war on energy, inability to create jobs and a strong economy, and the nationalization of 18% of our GDP.
So, “Forward“, it is, eh?
