Government exists to serve “the people”.  Other than hazardous duty positions, i.e. first responders, law enforcement, military, etc. nobody in government “sacrifices” in the toil of their labor any more than a privately (employed) citizen.  Government workers, including contractors who build the roads, etc. simply get paid by us taxpayers to do a job.  Now I love teachers, and think they deserve more support, but not through union mandates or the bloated NEA bureaucracy. Obama has demonstrated again and again in his words and deeds that he believes all that is good, valued, and fair in the world flows from government.  It does not.  It flows from the God-given freedoms that every American has a right to exercise.

SWSWSW,
Seriously there’s no insult to the American economic enterprise.  You need to realize that you can’t build a business to any level of success without having used infrastructure that was built by generations before you—-roads/bridges/rail/internet.  Businesses are not independent of each other and the government (thru taxpayers) has had a hand in helping every business grow.  There are those out there (I am not saying you) that like to think their success is only because of themselves—-they ignore the sacrifices made by others that contribute to their ability to succeed (infrastructure/education/family factors/etc).  Those type of folks are naive at best and arrogant at worst. To who much is given, much is expected——meaning we all the duty to provide for the best of society not ignore it because we don’t feel we owe it anything.

SW:

My 9 year old niece can read and comprehend what Obama was actually saying.  How does he insult the entirety of American economic enterprise?  Do you believe he did, because you want to believe he did?  Because you want to use it towards your own partisan advantage?  In University and graduate school I was trained to explain how you derive every conclusion.  You have failed to show how you derive that mark - therefore I’m declaring it nothing more than party line BS.

C’mon, please be honest with everyone here and most importantly - yourself.  The speech Obama gave is hardly radical by any standards.  But by editing his words - you can make Obama look radical, something that his actions haven’t shown in nearly four years in office. 

And a closer look into Obama’s speech, it reminds me of one Romney gave at the Olympics years ago about success.  Either Romney is being woefully dishonest or he believes that success is measured and awarded differently depending if it is economic vs all other types of success.

Thanks, Marshall for providing the transcript. 
He didn’t insult small business owners.  He insulted the entire American economic enterprise. 
Just love how you try to explain it away.
The text says it all…. “You didn’t build that, someone else made it happen?

@Marshall—way to go, confusing the situation with facts.  What are you thinking???  :-)

Actual statement from Obama’s speech:

“If you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own. I’m always struck by people who think, ‘Wow, 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.’ Lemme tell you something: there are a lot of hard working people out there. If you are 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’s 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 did not get invented on its own.”

——
All the political would-be hacks on here would like you to think he insulted small business owners by saying they aren’t smart, didn’t work hard, and didn’t build their business.  Not true, Obama was saying hard-work and intelligence doesn’t always account for success.  There are lot of people who work their fingers to the bone everyday in our lower-income jobs.  A lot of smart people aren’t as successful as you would think.  Somewhere they got help - either they knew someone or circumstances were just right.

Obama wasn’t diminishing small business owners.  I own a small business which has had mild success, but I don’t let that define me or go to my head.  Yeah, its mine - I put a lot of hard work into it.  But I’m no self-made man.  I’ll admit that.  My family, my educators, those who gave me early work experience helped shape me - I just acted on it.  I’m thankful and proud of what I’ve achieved but I didn’t get there on my own.

And Obama clearly was talking about infrastructure when he said “you didn’t build that.”  Come and try to tell me otherwise. 

And for all you Romniacs out there, lets talk about Romney’s ad which features Jack Gilchrist - small business owner.  He talks about how he built his business, but he personally received special tax breaks, loans, and grants from the government.  Yet he wants to diminish his success.  Yes, he has been successful - but lets be real - he didn’t build his business without tax payer funded loans and tax giveaways.  He didn’t build his businesses with out the nearby roads and schools which helped him transport his workers and goods, and he didn’t get there without the teachers and schools which educated his employees.

I completely agree with apolitical and disingenuousYou, we should stop listening to baseless speeches and edited sound bites.  A good enough candidate should be able to run on their record; I guess that’s why Obama continues to just give speeches.

We all knew what BHO was saying when he said it, and so did the rest of America.  BHO’s been trying to walk it back ever since and the media is still trying to cover and explain.  When you add up the “spread it around” to Joe the Plummer, “bitter clingers” at his $30k/plate in Cali and now “you didn’t build that” it shows how this guy really thinks about America.

Could we please have real discussions on issues instead of making stuff up….taking only enough of a soundbite to make it look like people are saying things completely opposite of what they did say is really childish and desperate.  Then to have such blind sheep repeating it…..people use your own brains!

No one edited the tape apolitical, Obama is a socialist and wishes to take America down that path, “spread the wealth around”, “you didn’t build that”, I’ll reduce deficit in half and then adding 5+ trillion, government takeover of GM, still owes taxpayers 42.7 Billion, green energy scams at taxpayers expense, stimulus waste, poverty level at highest level EVER, food stamp rolls at highest levels EVER, 8.2% unemployment ever since he took office, the fact is socialism doesn’t work and neither do we under Obama…time for the dude to get out of the way so we can actually live in America again…can’t wait to greet him with gadesn flag…

Fox News: When Facts are not Important.

“If you’ve got a business—You didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen”

In context this was a reference to the infrastructure that helped build your successful business…

http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/wed-july-25-2012-joseph-stiglitz

Watch this you Faux News Simpletons…

Clearly, if you listen to the entire Roanoke speech the context is much worse than simply telling business owner’s they didn’t build it.  The man spoke his mind and the people (particularly small business owners and entrepreneurs) don’t like his dismissive attitude toward them (this despite the left leaning media’s attempts to recharacterize what was actually said).  His big government ideology is not what made this country great - it is individual freedom.  He doesn’t get that and never will - that is becoming more clear every time he speaks these days.

once again the libs show they cannot talk about the issues so they just call names and throw out the same old BS- Fox-fake-news, mitt the twit, racist etc etc. Guess what? Its old and most people are ready to discuss issues and your lack of depth makes you sound like idiots.

Now with regards to Obamas stupid comments -lets discuss- Yes he said that if you built a business you didn’t build “it” yourself- You had the help of many people. I guess this is just like any famous sports personality didn’t really build the stadium or the roads that get you to the stadium so in theory they didn’t beat those records or win the game by themselves. What kinda thinking is this? Sounds socialist to me.

And on top of that the comment he really INSULTED small business folks with was his statement- “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.) ” Listening to the president and his crowd (laughing and having a good time at someone else’s expense) you really get a feel for what he is all about. Guess what- successful businesses almost always are started by people who work harder and smarter then others- the president is so disconnected with what has made our country great that he doesn’t realize you have to work harder and smarter then everyone else if you want to get make something for yourself. Lets be honest- there are plenty of people who are completely satisfied with working as little as possible and living the life that goes with that. Nothing wrong with them- but they are not the same breed of people who mortgage the house, get up at 5am and work till they drop at the end of the day- giving up weekends and vacations and passing on paychecks in order to build something that all of us need- JOBS. You have to admit that the president appears to be completely clueless about these kinda people who make jobs and commerce happen. He is more focused on what he knows- socialism and “spreading the wealth” and creating class envoy.

BW- Instead of calling me names etc would welcome some intelligent discussion- maybe someone wants to try to enlighten us on why Obama seems so clueless about what has made our country so great or why he doesn’t think its important to stop bashing people who work harder and smarter then most.

It really is sad the level to which “debate” has sunk in this country, when editing a video to suit one’s purposes is viewed by some as “fact”. 

It’s okay to disagree with someone on their views, but at least respect them enough to disagree with what they actually said or wrote, not what some video editor made it look like they said.

Choosing to do other wise and your “sign” should be a big “L” on your forehead!

Awe shucks redcow and SWSWSW, time for you to tune off of Fox-Fake-News.  The rest of the population has seen the ENTIRE speech instead of the cut&paste; Mitt-the-twit campaign did on that speech. You know a candidate is in trouble when he has to “CREATE” a message that didn’t exist.

“If you’ve got a business—You didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen” -Pres. Obama July 13th, 2012

Awesome….. Time for me to get my “I BUILT THIS” sign ready to go….