Even Bill Clinton in his Democrat Party Speech could only come up with a tepid response to “If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that” embedded in Obama’s Roanoke Virginia speech,“There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who agree with me — because they want to give something back. They know they didn’t — 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. 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.” Obama, Roanoke, Va, July 13, 2012 http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/07/13/remarks-president-campaign-event-roanoke-virginia
Clinton appeared eager to diffuse the Republican response to Obama’s quotation which undermines the very foundation of our economic system that individuals based upon intelligence and hard work create wealth. Clinton’s comments follow,
“Now, folks, in Tampa a few days ago, we heard a lot of talk — (laughter) — all about how the president and the Democrats don’t really believe in free enterprise and individual initiative, how we want everybody to be dependent on the government, how bad we are for the economy.This Republican narrative — this alternative universe — (laughter, applause) — says that every one of us in this room who amounts to anything, we’re all completely self-made. One of the greatest chairmen the Democratic Party ever had, Bob Strauss — (cheers, applause) — used to say that ever politician wants every voter to believe he was born in a log cabin he built himself. (Laughter, applause.) But, as Strauss then admitted, it ain’t so. (Laughter.)We Democrats — we think the country works better with a strong middle class, with real opportunities for poor folks to work their way into it — (cheers, applause) — with a relentless focus on the future, with business and government actually working together to promote growth and broadly share prosperity. You see, we believe that “we’re all in this together” is a far better philosophy than “you’re on your own.” (Cheers, applause.) It is.” http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2012/09/05/bill_clinton_address_dnc_we_are_better_off_since_obama_took_office.html
But what Clinton implies but doesn’t say directly is that Government built that log cabin. His further implication is that only through government can one cooperate or work together, not outside of government in the community or in the private sector.
Neither of these implications are accurate. Government didn’t build that log cabin. And the American people can and have cooperated through the existence of this country without the necessity of government intervention in every endeavor of their lives.
Come on Bill, you can do better than that, or perhaps I should suggest your speech writers can build a better construct!
Tell ’em where you saw it. Http://www.victoriataft.com
