Is Obama’s “If You’ve Got A Business, You Didn’t Build That” line being taken out of context?
Republicans are attacking President Barack Obama this week for a few lines out of his speech in Roanoke on Friday.
Here’s a clip of the speech snippet from GOPRapidResponse, followed by comments from Republican challenger Mitt Romney.
Via his campaign, here’s what Romney had to say about that:
“The idea to say that Steve Jobs didn’t build Apple, that Henry Ford didn’t build Ford Motor, that Papa John didn’t build Papa John Pizza, that Ray Kroc didn’t build McDonald’s, that Bill Gates didn’t build Microsoft, you go on the list, that Joe and his colleagues didn’t build this enterprise, to say something like that is not just foolishness, it is insulting to every entrepreneur, every innovator in America and it’s wrong. And by the way, the President’s logic doesn’t just extend to the entrepreneurs that start a barber shop or a taxi operation or an oil field service business like this and a gas service business like this, it also extends to everybody in America that wants to lift themself up a little further, that goes back to school to get a degree and see if they can get a little better job, to somebody who wants to get some new skills and get a little higher income, to somebody who have may have dropped out that decides to get back in school and go for it. People who reach to try and lift themself up. The President would say, well you didn’t do that. You couldn’t have gotten to school without the roads that government built for you. You couldn’t have gone to school without teachers. So you are not responsible for that success. President Obama attacks success and therefore under President Obama we have less success and I will change that. I’ve got to be honest, I don’t think anyone could have said what he said who had actually started a business or been in a business. And my own view is that what the President said was both startling and revealing. I find it extraordinary that a philosophy of that nature would be spoken by a President of the United States.”
But did Obama actually tell people they didn’t build their own businesses?
Technically speaking — no.
Even in the video above, it’s apparent that the president is saying that business owners didn’t build the roads and bridges that support commerce. Obama is effectively paraphrasing portions of remarks made last fall by Elizabeth Warren, a candidate for U.S. Senate in Massachusetts.
Here’s the transcript of that portion of Obama’s speech in Roanoke for the full context:
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.
So we say to ourselves, ever since the founding of this country, you know what, there are some things we do better together. That’s how we funded the GI Bill. That’s how we created the middle class. That’s how we built the Golden Gate Bridge or the Hoover Dam. That’s how we invented the Internet. That’s how we sent a man to the moon. We rise or fall together as one nation and as one people, and that’s the reason I’m running for President — because I still believe in that idea. You’re not on your own, we’re in this together.
To be fair, Obama’s not the only one being taken out of context. Earlier this year you may have heard about Romney’s comment that “I’m not concerned about the very poor.” That too was a soundbite taken out of context from his greater remarks.
If you hear Obama or Romney quoted in a short snippet saying something outrageous, it’s a good idea to go try to find the transcript when possible. They very well may have said something outrageous — and I’m sure there are readers here outraged even by the full context of Obama’s remarks — but reading the framing material may help provide a fuller picture.
After the jump, you can find video of C-SPAN’s footage of the president’s Roanoke appearance, as well as Romney’s remarks.
– Mason Adams
July 17, 2012 - 5:32 PM
Honestly, even in the full context, our president’s statement is a troubling one. Of course, we rise and fall as a country and have built our success on previous generations. Of course, there are some things that are best done in the public realm (e.g. the interstate highway sytem, paid for and maintained by hardworking taxpayers dollars and fuel taxes.) The point he made that’s troubling is how he diminishes individual initiative, hard work (no, actually it’s not all equal), sacrifice (years of study to learn a profession, long hours building a business)… Essentially all the good virtues that can be found in human nature and that we depend on for our success as a country. He has it backward.
Obama did not tell people they didn’t build their own businesses; his teleprompter did.
@T Carrington…thank you very much!!! Yes, that line did not stand on its own. However, even in this context it IS very troubling. There are a lot of people who owns a business that DID in fact build it on their own. Do teachers help? Sure. But to hear him tell it, they have a stake in the business. That’s too socialism-ish for my tastes.
Republicans are scrambling to turn the narrative. The real question is, what is Mitt Romney hiding from the American people? Why won’t he release his tax returns as over 20 prominent GOP politicians and pundits have urged him to do? Is it because he doesn’t pay taxes? How about his offshore accounts? Will it show his continuing involvement with Bain Capital? Drudge is running with the birthers again, desperate times call for desperate measures.
Just another example of republicans grasping at straws to find a reason to hate Obama….when actually the majority of them are simply racists but can’t just come out and say we want the black man gone.
Also unless you make over $250,000 a year why would you not support Obama he is trying to HELP YOU, but some idiots are so set in their ways they can’t see the forest for the trees….when you’re poor and vote republican it shows how stupid you really are, I actually wish the president would take a more socialist stance its what this country needs, because capitalism obviously has failed us…thank you and good day.
“We hold these truths to be self evident…that we are endowed by our Creator with … unalienable rights… life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” God endows gifts and callings, families, churches, civic organizations, voluntary asscoiations, i.e. civil society incubates these God-given talents and individual creativity, entrepreneurial spirit and personal initiative lead to successful business creation. The government is not the genesis or even the arbiter of the gifts, talents, initiatve and entreprenrial spirit. The “idea”/founding premise of America is that governement facilitates individual pursuit of happiness. Indidvidual success is still just that individual and private. Mandatory conscription/socialization of success is what Obama is after. Entirely consistent with his mentor Frank Marshall Davis and his egaliatarian worldview that seeks equal outcomes. It is also eerily consistent with “…to each according to his needs”
Interesting that Obama can criticize anyone. His 3 1/2 year “on the job training” record stinks and the party of “what can you do for me?” turns a blind eye to what he is doing to this country. You think 8% unemployment is the norm? If this guy gets re-elected get used to it cause he doesn’t have the faintest clue how to resolve it. Hasn’t yet has he? To run against someone who actually succeeded in business has Obama a little scared. Whatever Romney did or didn’t do makes like difference if he didn’t do it illegally. The difference is that he was successful, Obama has been a dismal failure.
Just wait and see how you like him after Obamacare kicks in. It was delayed until 2014 for a reason and it wasn’t implementation.
Why is it that there can never be a discussion about Obama without someone throwing out the Race card. Most people hate Obama because he likes to use our constitution as toilet paper and he is an idiot, not because he is Black.
#7 “The difference is that he was successful, Obama has been a dismal failure.”
Hmm, so getting elected senator and then president is failure? Curious.
It’s sad — the way people are finding ways to bash the President and how republicans are working hard at every turn to stop progress just to make sure someone other than Obama is our next President. It’s sad that people can’t do a lick of critical thinking and see the big picture in what Mr. Obama was saying in his speech instead of taking the literal view as a means to tear him down.
No, he wasn’t saying bad things about individuals running their own businesses. He was pointing out that it takes support from everyone, from people working together as a government providing an infrastructure, for those individuals to succeed. Amazon wouldn’t be where it is today had the government not invested in the development of the internet. Papa John’s Pizza wouldn’t get very far if there were no roads for the delivery drivers to use to get pizzas to the people who ordered them. These things didn’t and don’t happen because of a bunch of individuals, but because people worked together — something that isn’t happening very well these days.
One just has to look at yesterday’s and today’s news about the report of the Fed to Congress. When a republican politician flat out says that because of politics and the election that he and his colleagues aren’t going to do anything to help the economy, then we’re all pretty much screwed. But that’s what has been happening since the day Bush left office, the repugs have been doing their best to obstruct any progress that would make things better just to advance their own cause.
Sad.
All you libs complaining about Obama being taken out of context…I expect to hear the same complaints the next time a conservative is taken out of context.
There will be plenty of instances, no doubt (just as there have been in the past, and you’ve all been silent about it).
It’s also funny how the right is portrayed as “racist”…when it’s the left that always brings up the subject of race and plays the race card every chance they get, if it’s to their advantage.
@11 The Other Rick –
I can’t speak for the “libs,” but speaking for myself as a reporter, if something that Romney or another Republican says here in western Virginia is taken out of context as a talking point, we’ll do the same for them as we did for the president in this post.
I think both sides are guilty of taking the opposition’s statements out of context for political gain. And while I’m not about to try and take the entire presidential race on my shoulders, I’ll certainly do my part to set the record straight when it happens in our coverage area.
– Mason Adams
#11 Is this right-wing-meme Wednesday?
Pat Hall,
The only thing progressing under Obama is the deficit. And Unemployment. To coin (the father of the internet) Al Gore: Things that are down should be up and things that are up should be down.
4 more years- what is so magic about $250,000? Most see this gimmic for what it is-class warfare and envy. Some people you call “idiots” don’t always vote what is best for THEM personally, but instead put their self interests aside and vote for what is best for the country as a whole.
That’s why we aren’t subjects of the English crown anymore. Revelutionary soldiers and leaders put the country’s bets interest ahead of theirs.
And why Obama, by his own admission, should be a one term president.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCN5-ovvFL0
It ain’t fixed. Obama says he should go if he didn’t get it fixed in 3 years. Why is he even running?
Having read, re-read, listened to and re-listened to the President’s comments in context I am incredulous that anyone can think he is speaking of building roads and bridges in a sentence that reads “If you’ve got a business -you did not build that. Somebody else made that happen.” It is patently obvious that no one individual builds roads and bridges. The tone,inflection, audience reaction and the President’s body language clearly indicate he was belittling private business. What you have done for the President is provide cover for his incredible animus towards the private sector- which by the way is doing “just fine”- and to call that “objective” also strains credulity.
Thanks everyone for the comments on the thread so far. I appreciate the generally civil tone our readers & commenters have taken toward one another.
I think there’s plenty of grist for both sides here, and I appreciate the good, lively debate.
Clearly the quote in question here has become a major talking point this week, and the debate over both the context and policy of the speech helps underscore one of the central divides in the race.
Again, thanks for weighing in, passionately, but in a way that’s civil and that respects “The Virginia Way” that I wrote about on Monday.
This sort of discussion & debate makes me look forward to approving each new comment instead of dreading it.
– Mason Adams
The deliberate calculation to take this comment out of its obvious context is more about this divided nation than President Obama misstating his sentence.
No one did get their success in a vacuum and sane people have always acknowledged and thanked those who “gave them a start”, encouraged, mentored, or taught them and yes, having the infrastructure, the workforce, the protections, the loans, the laws and economic structures (most especially the tax incentives and breaks for business) helps them all. It is ludicrous to think that a man who came from humble middle class beginnings to be President would be dismissing initiative and effort.
BTW, clearly if you value hard work, service, humility and achievement, you would be supporting the guy who did all that, not the guy “born on third base and claiming he hit a home run”!
Seriously, this is indeed “sad”, Pat N. Hall, thanks!
I would much rather vote for the player on 3rd base and trying to score than the guy who thinks he’s a ball player and has proved, in the last 3 years that he, sadly, isn’t.
Sandi, I don’t believe it was taken out of context. I get that the left is now trying to put what he said into “better words” and explanation and I get that the right is trying to slam dunk it, however:
“If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.”
Is absolutely ludicrous and poorly worded. Horribly worded.
So what makes the player born on third base a “ball player”?
“The phrase is not taken out of context. It didn’t come after a celebration of the inventiveness and risk taking of individual Americans that has made this country great. The president gave the mildest of acknowledgements to the role of the individual, followed by a paragraph of examples that cast American history as a series of collective accomplishments.” Charles Murray
American Enterprise Institute. The President’s unguarded remarks reveal the abundance of is heart”: “spread the wealth” to “Joe the Plumber”, or his remarks in Osawatomie, KS regarding free markets, lowering taxes and regulations: “It doesn’t work. It has never worked” or his comment that even though raising taxes on capital gains does not bring more revenue it is a “fairness” issue. The President’s “off the cuff” but straight from the heart remarks in Roanoke are aimed at garnering support for his tired old tax the rich class envy. He has already sold out/indentured our children and grand-children with the highest debts and deficits ever seen and now wants to punish those “you didn’t build it” businesses yet again with higher taxes that our “drunken sailor” government will spend in mere weeks and will do absolutely nothing to bring down deficits. I am one of those businesses and I will readily acknowledge that my family, friends, faith, education and life-experience contributed immeasurably to any success I have been blessed with but “the government” has been a constant obstacle and road-block.
Again, taking comments out of context to spin them as you believe they fit is the problem, not what Obama said. Not in Roanoke or anywhere else. It is dishonest and should cause the right wing to lose. It sometimes does, but not nearly often enough.
Like others, you are refusing to see what you do not want to see. All of the aid anyone gets in this nation (and many others) is not “from the government” nor from taxpayers, although the truth of that is insurmountable. Who you are born to has more of a role than any other factor. That is simply the truth. If you are born “with a silver spoon in your mouth”, or “on third base”, you have an education, a background, a circle of influence and support that over 75% of this nation can only dream of. Sure the determined, gifted, prodded and courageous also can, and do prosper, but to deny that the owner who takes the risk also gets the lion’s share of the reward is simply dishonest. To pretend that anyone made it, keeps it or perpetuates it all on their own is simply dishonest. Steve Jobs died, Apple Inc did not. When Bill Gates is long gone, Microsoft will still be here. Warren Buffett is one man but Berkshire-Hathaway will go on. That is because none of them happened in a vacuum and none of them lived in a vacuum and none of them left or will leave a vacuum.
I fully understand it messes with your dynamics to admit the truth, but it is the truth nonetheless. The success, products, services and profits pulled from every company were produced by ALL of the people in that company, and ALL of the infrastructure and societal accomplishments, whether they get a tiny or large portion of them. That is simply the truth. It is a principle as old as the Bible. “For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more“. Obama did not event it.
I firmly believe in the existence of absolute truth and an Absolute Being- the triune God of Biblical Christianity. And the truth about the President’s statements are evident from the context, his snarky tone and his many other statements, the ideology of his mentors (Frank Marshall Davis, Jeremiah Wright)his one-play playbook (tax, spend, regulate), his unprecedented extension of the welfare state even to the point of using executive orders to undo welfare reform and his silence in “clarifying” his very unpopular remarks. He either meant his remarks exactly as his critics have taken them or he is demonstrably not the “great communicator”. Someone who respected private initiative, small business and the private sector would not have gone anywhere near the comments he made and if they were strongly criticized from all quarters after “mis-speaking” would immediately “walk back”, qualify or explain himself.
If you’ve got a successful attack on innocent people at a movie theater, you didn’t do that. Somebody else made that happen. Consider the roads, the Internet and whatnot. It’s time for felons to give their fair share. Lots of others who helped along the way also want free housing, food and medical care. Why not donate four years from your sentence to Obama, it’s the only way he’s going to get them.
What is unmistakable are his repeated assertions that we cannot succeed without govt. As if we would not (and do not) invent out if necessity. As if we will sit on our needy arses in hovels unless a tax funded entity provides the means for our success. Our ancestors beat down trails to new frontiers long before the creation of USDOT. If I am successful because of govt programs, why are other members of my family not successful? We had identical opportunities.
Apparently even “the existence of absolute truth” cannot trump partisan politics. Too funny really.
#23 Boy, Tyler Blount, you’ve really drunk the Kool Aid; been reeled in hook, line, and sinker; gutted and cleaned; and completely brainwashed. You’ve bought every line the right wingers have put out there. Sad.