'Forward' Starts in Reverse; Obama Campaign Anchors 2012 Message to Economic Deluge of 2008

By Major Garrett // April 30, 2012 | 3:54 p.m.

President Barack Obama speaks at the Building and Construction Trades Department Legislative Conference, Monday, April 30, 2012, in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

The first 38 seconds of President Obama's new 7-minute campaign video are devoted to the economic deluge he inherited. Team Obama doesn't blame President Bush's administration for this bitter economic bequest by name, but the inference is inescapable.

Obama knows the U.S. economic recovery is weak, consumer confidence timid, job growth uninspiring and optimism jittery. This is not the historic foundation upon which a second term is built. Therefore, the past must be made present to guarantee (or at least enhance) Obama's political future.

The video, with the one word title "Forward" is utterly and not surprisingly consistent with former White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs statement Sunday that the central complaint of presumptive-GOP nominee Mitt Romney is Obama "didn't clean up our mess fast enough."

But it is clear - to the discerning eye - not everything Bush bequeathed Obama was a mess.