The American Spectator

In 2008, it was rumored that the Obama campaign chose to display the words “Obama” and “Biden” vertically in the official logo because, at a glance and when presented horizontally, “Obama-Biden” looked a little too much like “Osama bin Laden.” Back then, the last thing the campaign wanted was to stress the relatively unknown candidate’s Muslim roots or his lack of foreign policy experience.

Four years later, much has changed. The vertical presentation of “Obama” and “Biden” still predominates, but the campaign has added a horizontal version.

It makes sense. Obama is now all too well known to most Americans. And this time around the campaign would probably like nothing more than for voters to associate “Obama-Biden” with “Osama bin Laden,” whose assassination is Obama’s greatest first-term accomplishment.

Many of Romney’s items include the campaign’s official slogan, “Believe in America,” and numerous variations on the theme of “Government didn’t build my business. I did.” Obama’s “Forward” campaign slogan is displayed on a few items, as are slogans such as “Great Together Obama” and “Our Health, Our Vote.”

Until Labor Day weekend, the Obama campaign was still hawking 2008 memorabilia, including a T-shirt that said “November 4, 2008: Change Can Happen.” Those items have since then been removed, the final vestiges of a candidate, and a campaign, from a very different time and place.