The Obama gaffe heard around the world by now is the soundbite of "If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen."
Conservatives jumped on that comment to highlight the difference between Obama's ideology and Mitt Romney's ideology. The Romney campaign and the RNC immediately had ads produced spotlighting business owners declaring "I did build that."
Team Obama, understanding how damaging that soundbite was, attempted to claim the quote was "tampered" with in an ad they released following the uproar, and liberals claimed the quote was taken out of context.
Romney now responds "I found the speech even more disconcerting than just that particular line. The context is worse than the quote."
The portion of the speech, in context, from the White House transcript:
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.
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.
Video of Romney's full response below.
[WATCH]
Romney continued by calling Obama's ideology a “foreign” philosophy, which differed from the American experience.
“This is an ideology which says hey, we’re all the same here, we ought to take from all and give to one another and that achievement, individual initiative and risk-taking and success are not to be rewarded as they have in the past,” Romney said. “It’s a very strange and in some respects foreign to the American experience type of philosophy.”
Romney and Conservatives are not the only ones pointing out how inherently wrong Obama's words were or how repugnant they were to business owners who put their blood, sweat and tears into building up their businesses.
Business owners have their own stories. Video below, via Bristol Palin, who asked businesses owners to explain to Obama "how small businesses are created," by sending photos and stories.
[WATCH]- I Built This...The Video
Polling done since Obama's ill-chosen comment shows that 72 percent of U.S. likely voters disagree with Obama and believe that businesses owners who start and grow their businesses are primarily responsible for the success or failure of those businesses.
