Originally published by Communities @ Washington Times
SAN DIEGO, July 20, 2012 — The 2012 election saga took an unusual turn when President Obama, speaking in Roanoke, Virginia, claimed business owners obtain assistance from other people while achieving their magnificent success stories. On its face, this idea would have been met without objection. But something about Obama’s actual wording set off a firestorm: “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen” (Fox News, July 16, 2012).
In an interview with FoxNews.com, Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul said the comments “reflect just how unqualified he is to lead us to a real economic recovery.”
“They are also insulting to the hardworking entrepreneurs, small-business owners, and job creators who are the backbone of our economy,” she added in an email message.
Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt defended the accuracy and context of the president’s statement:
“As President Obama said, those who start businesses succeed because of their individual initiative — their drive, hard work, and creativity … But there are critical actions we must take to support businesses and encourage new ones; that means we need the best infrastructure, a good education system, and affordable, domestic sources of clean energy. Those are investments we make not as individuals, but as Americans, and our nation as a whole.”
It’s always fun listening to a politician’s handler clean up his mess and explain that he didn’t really say what he said. Still, no matter how much we slice and dice, Obama said plainly, “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.” Those were the actual words. They spilled out of Obama’s mouth, perhaps as a Freudian slip demonstrating his love for socialism, a kind of sequel to that infamous 2008 Joe the Plumber comment.
Could Obama have merely meant that nothing in life is done in isolation? Yes, anything is possible. But that kind of mundane observation would have been about as obvious as pointing out that cookies are baked in an oven, and one wonders why such a non revealing statement would have been included in a campaign speech. We are forced to consider the possibility that controversial words are meant to be just that. They seem to speak for themselves despite LaBolt’s verbal gymnastics.
Nevertheless, merciful people will grant Team Obama some benefit of the doubt. They are absolutely correct to remind us that we get by with a little help from our friends. After all, no hero of history can take complete credit for his actions.
George Washington didn’t really cross the Delaware without help. He sat in a boat.
Abraham Lincoln would not have been able to sign the Emancipation Proclamation without a pen. In fact, now that you mention it, he needed paper too!
Charles Lindbergh would not have been able to fly from New York to Paris if somebody hadn’t first built New York and Paris.
On the other hand, the evil George Bush was a genius; he achieved all of his failed policies entirely on his own!
Although Thomas Edison invented the light bulb with little assistance from others, just imagine how many more lights could have been produced had he lived in today’s United States. Oh wait! Because of Global Warming, the invention probably would have been against the law.
Finally, Obama himself would not be a success without the support of Marxists, race-baiters, and self righteous, sanctimonious, ignorant, arrogant people who are incapable of imagining any reason one might be against their idol aside from skin color.
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