"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."------- Barack Obama, Roanoke, VA- July 2012 (Video HERE)
Business owners throughout the country have been making it clear they were offended by Obama's remarks, not just the "you didn't build that" soundbite, but by the entire in-context quote, with caterers at Obama's own events wearing "Government didn’t build my business. I did" T-shirts, another refusing to cater a Biden event, business owners hanging signs at their businesses and store windows saying "we built this", etc...
Yesterday, stopping in Iowa on his way towards the Democratic Convention site in Charlotte, NC, Obama was greeted again with a reminder that his words offended people in every state, including Iowa:
Greeting Air Force One as it touched down under sunny skies and sultry heat was a hand-painted banner draped across the top of an airplane hangar that reads, “Obama Welcome to SUX – We Did Build This.” “SUX” is the airport code for Sioux City.
The message appeared to be a response President Obama’s “you didn’t build that” remark from a July campaign rally, when he was trying to explain that government — not businesses — constructed public infrastructure on which the economy relies. Republicans have used the four words to attack Obama as out of touch with the realities of owning and operating a small business.
The reason Romney and Conservatives believe that Obama's full quote, in context, is worse that just the "you didn't build that" soundbite is because tax revenue is what builds public infrastructure, taxes collected by the government from taxpayers which means employers, employees, the wealthy built those as well. Tax dollars are also what built the public schools where those teachers Obama spoke of teach.
As for creating the system that allows businesses to thrive? Capitalists built that too.
As I said back in mid August, Liberals and Obama just don't "get" why his 'you didn't build that' remark was so offensive to business owners across the country, nor why it is still resonating over a month and a half later.
Is it any wonder business owners are migrating towards Romney over Obama by more than two-to-one?