The Obamamiacs are vigorously arguing that this election is not a referendum on Mr. Obama’s past performance but instead a choice about a vision of the future of America. Does it matter? Nope.

If 2012 is a referendum as we had in 2010, Mr. Obama will get a serious spanking. It’s clear that the very conditions that propelled historic losses in Congress and across state and local governments are little improved. It is no wonder Mr. Obama wants to reframe the question to ignore the past and imagine a future.

But, the future he inspires is full of ever greater government intrusion, regulation, taxation and the consequent strangulation of America’s unique qualities and initiative. The economy we “enjoy” today is our future under Mr. Obama’s scheme . . . and perhaps precisely what Mr. Obama meant when he, in  2007, declared his hope to “transform” America and later Osawatamie, Kansas opined that America as created by our founders, “has never worked.”

So, bring it on. Even the Romney campaign may stumble into the obvious – run against both Mr. Obama’s past and his future.  As the aphorism that graces the entrance to the National Archives declares: The Past is Prologue.