"New Obama slogan has long ties to Marxism, socialism"... and Wisconsin.

Drudge pushed me over to the Washington Times, where I was surprised to read:

The Obama campaign apparently didn't look backwards into history when selecting its new campaign slogan, "Forward" — a word with a long and rich association with European Marxism.

Many Communist and radical publications and entities throughout the 19th and 20th centuries had the name "Forward!" or its foreign cognates.... 

The slogan "Forward!" reflected the conviction of European Marxists and radicals that their movements reflected the march of history, which would move forward past capitalism and into socialism and communism.

What?! "Forward" is the Wisconsin state motto, and I've heard it used over and over again by politicians. The origin of the motto goes back to 1848 — "a chance encounter in New York City between Gov. Nelson Dewey and Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Edward Ryan."

Dewey asked University of Wisconsin chancellor John Lathrop to design [an official state seal]. Lathrop delivered a sketch inspired by European heraldry that repeated Wisconsin Territory's Latin motto, "Civilitas Successit Barbaruin" ("Civilization Succeeds Barbarism"). Dewey took this to New York to be cast in metal. 

While there, he ran into Milwaukee attorney Edward Ryan. Both were plain-spoken, no-nonsense characters and neither of them liked the fancy Lathrop design with its pretentious Latin maxim. So they sat down on the steps of a Wall Street bank and redrew the state's official seal themselves. 

Ryan suggested that it repeat New York's motto, "Excelsior," but Dewey refused. They toyed with "Upward" and "Onward" before settling finally on "Forward."

By the way, "The Communist Manifesto" was first published in 1848, a cute coincidence, but I doubt it had much to do with the Dewey-Ryan confabulation.

Anyway, if this motto is embarrassing to Obama, he's free to switch it to "Civilization Succeeds Barbarism."