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Obama to business owners: "You didn't build that." [W:417]

kamikaze483

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At a campaign stop in Roanoke, VA, Obama takes a shot at entreprenuers and small business owners, suggesting that they are not responsible for the success of their own businesses.

IMO, blatant comments such as these show the disrespect that Obama has for ingenuity, resourcefulness, and hard work. I do not think comments such as these will benefit him among independent and other swing voters.

Also, I find it interesting that no other major news outlet other than Fox News picked up this story. Interesting, but not surprising.

Quoting Obama,

"If you have a business, you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen."


Obama to business owners: 'You didn't build that' | Fox News
 
Re: Obama to business owners: "You didn't build that."

HA! I never thought that a campaign stop in my little old city would create a national story.

What Obama said, in its entirety, isn't horribly off base. Neither are those who would tell the exact same story but focus on the individual. The reality is that situations of success can be attributed both to the individual and to the environment they've had around them. The difference of course is the desire to highlight one or the other...to highlight the community or highlight the individual. It'll be interesting to see which thing people buy into larger this year.
 
Re: Obama to business owners: "You didn't build that."

Why would Obama ever give credit to those that sacrifice and put in the hard work? It's not how he see's things, being that he's never been there.
 
Re: Obama to business owners: "You didn't build that."

I would imagine he would be referring to large corporations but since there is no video we will never know. I also refuse to believe it till someone other then FOX News reports it.
 
Re: Obama to business owners: "You didn't build that."

It is Obama's belief that everyone is born indebted and we all owe everything we have or acquire to others.
 
Re: Obama to business owners: "You didn't build that."

They can just run that clip, all on it's own, repeated for 30 seconds and it will sink Obama.
 
Re: Obama to business owners: "You didn't build that."

They can just run that clip, all on it's own, repeated for 30 seconds and it will sink Obama.

Yes and that's unbelievably stupid that people will actually fall for it you need the context.
 
Re: Obama to business owners: "You didn't build that."

Yes and that's unbelievably stupid that people will actually fall for it you need the context.

Why not, it works for the democrats all the time. It's all in the framing - see Romney and Bain.
 
Re: Obama to business owners: "You didn't build that."

Yes and that's unbelievably stupid that people will actually fall for it you need the context.

You are a socialist....of course you don't have a problem with his socialist ideals.
 
Re: Obama to business owners: "You didn't build that."

I hate both of the candidates. Obama is not socialist in any way he is somewhere between centre and centre-right. I'm also a social democrat not a socialist.
 
Re: Obama to business owners: "You didn't build that."

I hate both of the candidates. Obama is not socialist in any way he is somewhere between centre and centre-right. I'm also a social democrat not a socialist.

How do you know Obama isn’t a socialist? Social democrats are socialists….but whatever…obviously you’re confused.
 
Re: Obama to business owners: "You didn't build that."

HA! I never thought that a campaign stop in my little old city would create a national story.

What Obama said, in its entirety, isn't horribly off base. Neither are those who would tell the exact same story but focus on the individual. The reality is that situations of success can be attributed both to the individual and to the environment they've had around them. The difference of course is the desire to highlight one or the other...to highlight the community or highlight the individual. It'll be interesting to see which thing people buy into larger this year.

Ya it is. Just because people exist and didn't stand in your way, doesn't mean that they helped you. That is an insane fallacy.
 
Re: Obama to business owners: "You didn't build that."

I hate both of the candidates. Obama is not socialist in any way he is somewhere between centre and centre-right. I'm also a social democrat not a socialist.


Then maybe you'll want to change your lean, which states you're a socialist.
 
Re: Obama to business owners: "You didn't build that."

I noticed in the video that Obama gave credit to the building of roads and infrastructure and then stated, "you didn't build that."

Of course big government paved the way. Right...
 
Re: Obama to business owners: "You didn't build that."

For those interested in a reading of it without any additional outside commentary and other such things....Transcript for you from the white house

LINK

The money quote in full

There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who agree with me — because they want to give something back. They know they didn’t — look, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own. You didn’t get there on your own. I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something — there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there. (Applause.) If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn’t get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet. The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together. There are some things, just like fighting fires, we don’t do on our own. I mean, imagine if everybody had their own fire service. That would be a hard way to organize fighting fires
 
Re: Obama to business owners: "You didn't build that."

How do you know Obama isn’t a socialist? Social democrats are socialists….but whatever…obviously you’re confused.


Basically Obama is a corporate fascist in his model of the economy.
 
Re: Obama to business owners: "You didn't build that."

Μολὼν λαβέ;1060694223 said:
I noticed in the video that Obama gave credit to the building of roads and infrastructure and then stated, "you didn't build that."

Of course big government paved the way. Right...

And, the part he conveniently leaves out, is that without the private sector the government wouldn't exist.
 
Re: Obama to business owners: "You didn't build that."

For those interested in a reading of it without any additional outside commentary and other such things....Transcript for you from the white house

LINK

The money quote in full

Most everyone understands that very few people were born with a silver spoon in their mouths and received help along the way, but this statement is offensive to those who have worked hard to get where they are. It just shows how out of touch he really is.

If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.
President Barack Obama
 
Re: Obama to business owners: "You didn't build that."

Chicken and egg, chicken and egg, chicken and egg.

Almost every individual effort is shaped in part by environmental conditions which were likely shaped in part due to individual efforts which....on and on.

As I said to a few friends on email...the funny thing is…he’s right, but he’s wrong as well. The reality is, often, success is a mixture of environment/community and the individual. Sometimes environment almost alone can spur it…sometimes the individual almost on their own can do it, but usually it’s a mix. The difference is…and it’s so interesting reading it because it’s often a great dichotomy between the two parties…is which of those two ingredients do you choose to highlight, promote, and give adulation to and which do you downplay or degrade or write off.

Obama chooses to highlight and promote the community while devaluing and downplaying the individual. Traditionally, Republicans hype up the individual while downplaying the community. What becomes interesting is which of the two arguments will win over the fickle American people this time around.
 
Re: Obama to business owners: "You didn't build that."

Μολὼν λαβέ;1060694208 said:
Then maybe you'll want to change your lean, which states you're a socialist.

I didn't see a social democrat option.
 
Re: Obama to business owners: "You didn't build that."

HA! I never thought that a campaign stop in my little old city would create a national story.

What Obama said, in its entirety, isn't horribly off base. Neither are those who would tell the exact same story but focus on the individual. The reality is that situations of success can be attributed both to the individual and to the environment they've had around them. The difference of course is the desire to highlight one or the other...to highlight the community or highlight the individual. It'll be interesting to see which thing people buy into larger this year.

Well said, but many people like to BELIEVE that they did everything on their own. My brother-in-law is a doctor. Smart hard working fellow. Loves to tell every how he did it all on his own. There's just one problem. His grandfather on one side paid for his education, and his grandmother paid for his expenses, including $5,000 a month living expenses. I take nothing from his hard work, as without that he would not have succeed. But the fact remains he had help. Most of us do. The difference is some recognize this, and others seek to take all the credit.

I suspect this will hurt him with those who cannot see how anyone every helped anyone who was successful. The individualism myth is a large one, and American mythology is powerful.
 
Re: Obama to business owners: "You didn't build that."

This comes back to the discussion of "Who owns the result of my labor first? The government or myself.
In the President's world, Government owns the result of all labor first, and the individual is allowed to keep
what the government deems necessary.
The world I would rather live in, Taxes are necessary, but the individual owns the result their own labor first.
Government provides a framework for business expansion.
The distinction between these two may seem subtle, but represent the difference between slavery and freedom.
 
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