Who Will Win the Future?

Who Will Win the Future?

What do Mighty Mouse, Road Runner, Mr. Rogers, and Barack Obama have in common?  They all have a nifty catch-phrase.  In his recent State of the Union address, President Obama used the phrase “Win the Future” (or a variant) no fewer than eleven times.  He used the slogan, reminiscent of a corporate trademark, to outline his legislative agenda focused on greater investment in education, infrastructure, and energy independence in a competitive global economy.  The new Congress is unlikely to launch into meaningful legislative action, so the president used “Win the Future” as an amorphous shadow.  By using an inveigled catch-phrase, Obama was able to divert the public’s attention from his lack of specificity to the promise of a shiny medal for “winning the future”.   But what does “winning the future” really mean?

What do Mighty Mouse, Road Runner, Mr. Rogers, and Barack Obama have in common?  They all have a nifty catch-phrase.  In his recent State of the Union address, President Obama used the phrase “Win the Future” (or a variant) no fewer than eleven times.  He used the slogan, reminiscent of a corporate trademark, to outline his legislative agenda focused on greater investment in education, infrastructure, and energy independence in a competitive global economy.  The new Congress is unlikely to launch into meaningful legislative action, so the president used “Win the Future” as an amorphous shadow.  By using an inveigled catch-phrase, Obama was able to divert the public’s attention from his lack of specificity to the promise of a shiny medal for “winning the future”.   But what does “winning the future” really mean?

Sarah Palin made it clear what it means.  She was the first to seize the fact that “Winning the Future” has unfortunate initials.  She highlighted the WTF moments by stating, that was a tough speech to have to sit through and kind of try to stomach,” in an On the Record segment. And a  majority of Americans most...