Obama responds to "you didn't build that" attack in new ad

(CBS News) For days, Mitt Romney has been using President Obama's recent remarks on the economy against him, suggesting the president doesn't support small businesses.

Now Mr. Obama is finally hitting back in a campaign ad slated to air in six swing states.

"Those ads taking my words about small business out of context - they're flat out wrong. Of course Americans build their own businesses," Mr. Obama says in the new ad, speaking directly into the camera while seated in the White House. "Every day, hard-working people sacrifice to meet a payroll, create jobs, and make our economy run. And what I said was that we need to stand behind them, as America always has."

The ad comes after a week of attacks from the Romney campaign over remarks Mr. Obama made last Friday in Virginia, where he argued that successful businesses rely on public resources funded by the government.

"If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help," Mr. Obama said. "There was a great teacher somewhere in your life... Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you've got a business -- you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen... The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together."

Unpacking the "You didn't build that" debate

In ads and in their campaign attacks, Romney and Republicans focused this snippet of Mr. Obama's remarks: "If you've got a business -- you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen."

Obama campaign spokesperson Jen Psaki told reporters today, "We are not going to stand by while Mitt Romney slices and dices and deliberately takes out of context the president's remarks on businesses."

The ad is slated to start airing Wednesday in Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, Ohio, Iowa and Nevada.

When asked whether the ad illustrates the Obama campaign's concern that the Romney attacks could be gaining traction, Psaki said, "It was important to us to ensure that people knew where the president was coming from, how much he supports entrepreneurs and small business owners, and how their records contrast."

[RollotheNorman]

I saw both. The rebuttal of RepubliCON trash talk was direct and to the point. The problem the RepubliCONs have in letting go is not so much in any real offense about they pulled out of context, but the don't have anything else to talk about. They wanna go back to Dubyanomics and Dubya's military adventurism, and stir in Ryan's trashing of Medicare and call it a party platform. But they're skeered, they just keep jumping up and down and shouting Obama doesn't understand this, he doesn't understand that, he's an incompetent, commie, pinko, *** and a foreigner to boot. RepubliCONs know if they clearly stated their real plans, they might get 20 maybe 25% of the vote, so they just blow smoke day and night and hope the '08 mud that didn't stick then will stick now.

[TimeToEvolve]

We the People are the job creators. We are the ones who run the economy with our demands for goods and services. The Top 1% depend on us with our labor, our money and our consent. So we have the power to shut the whole thing down whenever we want. And the corporations and businessmen and top 1% need us a lot more than we need them.

We built it all and we used to regulate the greed that the right wingers channeled to crash the economy in 2008 (before Obama).

[hillzhaveays]

just keep telling yourself that skippy

[TimeToEvolve]

Sorry, Bain did not build the roads or provide the education for it's workers. Bain did not provide its own army, police or fire fighters. We the people provided that for them. And they better not forget that.

[AcidicHotwire]

You are not people, you are a person. You did not provide that infrastructure, your boss (the businessman) paid for it with his taxes and the taxes of every employee he has. Perhaps you should remember that.

[TimeToEvolve]

Workers are the ones who create the wealth by building things. We still need people with money to finance these things but plenty of things are built by co-ops and non-profits. So why should a CEO make THOUSANDS of times more than the workers? And why should there be a minimum wage that is poverty level but no maximum wage?

[steeepe]

If you listen to the whole narrative and hear the quote in context, it's absolutely clear that Obama was talking about the great American infrastructure, legal system, Internet, etc. that the government funded. Easy to take words out of context and exactly what I'd expect from the Romney/tea party GOP camp. The CBO shot down tea party GOP claims about the effect of the ACA on the deficit and most economists say that the GOP "jobs" bill, whatever that may be, doesn't create jobs. No surprises...so the tea party GOP has to manufacture something like this misleading story on a quote and attack Obama's foreign policy, as if Romney has a clue about foreign policy. It would be laughable if it weren't so sad.

[AcidicHotwire]

I've listened to the whole narrative and it's quite clear that was NOT what he was referring to. Of course, even if he was he's still wrong. Oh, and the government didn't fund anything. That money came from the tax paying businesses Obama claims couldn't have succeeded without him. I contend that the government couldn't succeed or build anything without the businesses.

It's simple really. Take away government and businesses will adapt. Take away businesses and the government has no one to govern. Nothing misleading here.

[steeepe]

So acidic, you want a government by business, for business, and of business? That's not the USA according to our Constitution.

[EmpireGeorge______--]

Can Obama change his mind, and say this is his biggest mistake, instead of not telling stories ? this shows how out-of-touch he is with business, or work, having to work, having a job, what owning a business is like, working for a business.....all of that, foreign to the community organizer who's sucked off the government his whole life

[AcidicHotwire]

Ok, for all of you still trying to defend Obama, let's do something unique. Let's take Obama's exact words:

"If you own a business, you didn't build that!"

"Of course Americans build their own businesses."

It is completely clear that these two diametrically opposed statements cannot both be accurate, yet they have come out of one person's mouth. He is backpedaling because he knows he made a huge mistake. The original statement came first, before he realized the cliff he was jumping off of. Therefore, that one indicates his true feelings. Please stop trying to explain his words, or change them, or make them mean something else.

Businesses succeeded long before there were roads and bridges. Businesses succeeded before government tried to steal their profits. Businesses succeeded before we even had currency, and the barter system was in full effect. Businesses don't need government. Government needs business!

[AcidicHotwire]

Yes, actornaught, I am serious. I realize that you've lived a privileged life full of luxuries like roads, but not everyone has those. More importantly, paved roads is a relatively recent development if you study history. Perhaps you don't consider a cattle ranch in Ireland before the war with England to be a business, but I'm pretty sure they did. And they had to drive those cattle several hundred miles with no roads to speak of. Just because you couldn't personally do it doesn't mean others can't.

As for the you didn't build that [road} statement, you are doing exactly what I said not to. I used Obama's words, you are adding to them to try and make your point. If you can't defend his exact words, you shouldn't even try.

[sjc_1]

Try setting up your business in the middle of the desert, no roads, no ports, no power, no educated work force...welcome to the third world. It takes a society to provide the structure to create a successful business. Nothing happens all by itself in a vacuum.

[sjc_1]

Structure is an enabler, not a guarantee. Your attempt at logic falls far short of rational and coherent.

[marychgo]

Why can't Romney and his followers on this thread grasp that the alternative to "I" ("I did it all alone") ISN'T "government" ("the government did it"), but rather "we" ("we did it together"). THAT's what Obama was saying; THAT's what Obama believes -- and what millions of patriotic Americans who've studied history believe.

NO -- that's NOT communism, Marxism, socialism, or any other "ism." It's how the United States grew from a puny collection of thirteen colonies stretching up the east coast of the "New World" into a continental nation with enormous economic and military power. (Yes, there were terrible crimes along the way, including slavery and our treatment of Native Americans.) But when critical infrastructure was needed -- the Erie Canal, the transcontinental railroad, land-grant universities, the interstate highway system or, more recently, the Internet -- WE came together to make it happen.

Public goods and private goods are profoundly interdependent; you really CAN'T have one without the other. Most Main Street entrepreneurs understand that interdependency very well. I'm not sure private equity executives and hedge fund managers and credit default swap traders and TBTF bank execs share that understanding!

[nancy_naive]

Romney said the same thing EXACTLY in a stump speech. Hypocritical arse.

You are able to build a business in this country because WE, the taxpayers, built a country conducive to building businesses.

In the Soviet Union, capitalism triumphed over communism. In this country, capitalism triumphed over democracy. -Fran Lebowitz, author (b. 1950)

[wfw3536]

It is clear that you do not have anything to back up what you stated about Romney. Obama made it clear that he could care less about the individual spirit to be successful, Obama doesn't believe in this spirit, but rather big government being responsible for our success. How sad we have a president who doesn't believe in our American "can do" attitude.

[Kuhawk16]

Good to see that everyone is getting along, looks like you're playing cowboys and indians like the candidates. Let's go make you look bad, so that I can look better. Was anyone born with values and beliefs? If you were, then base your choice on those reminders, and please stop calling people out for being human and having errors. You might even be making the candidates smile when you argue for or against their campaign. Rise above friends, vote for what you believe in, not what candidates have speech writers for the candidates tell you to. BTW, did you know that our Presidents speech writer is 24 yrs old? How fun is that, it's like being an actor.