Obama and Who We Are
President Obama likes to talk about "who we are" on the stump, but his campaign for reelection says far more about who he is. He is someone who holds the vast majority of his fellow citizens in contempt, specifically anyone who has worked in the segment of the economy that he has avoided during his own career -- the private sector.
There was a time when pundits gave Obama credit for seamlessly weaving his own story into the finest fabric of the America story, but that moment has passed now, never to return. "If you’ve got a business -- you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen," Obama said last week on the campaign trail. In a country where immigrants become entrepreneurs, a candidate who runs against the ideals of enterprise and self-reliance runs from the very values that those yearning for a better life have always most associated with America.
Behind Obama's remark is a view that sees those in the private sector -- the vast majority of Americans -- as taking more from the country than they give. Obama attributes their every innovation to government support. He describes any tax cuts these Americans receive as spending increases, as if the money originated with the government. He downplays hard work as a meaningless force in a world of random luck. Under this philosophy, a successful businessman is no more than a robber baron, who plundered what government created.
No wonder Obama and his campaign staffers have begun tossing around words like "felony" when describing presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney's work in the private sector. Over at Forbes, I have a new column about the disturbing trend toward describing the private sector in criminal terms. This president has put free enterprise on trial, and those who believe in the system must defend it.
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Jan '11
Re: Obama and Who We Are
Take a look at all the American history books published in the last forty years that skipped over American accomplishments in business and society, and which instead focused on the travails of minorities and assorted victims. Think of the books where stories about American atrocities outnumbered American innovations.
Now look at Obama's agenda, including his gaffes. What do they reveal?
I say they reveal his deep grounding in the history he was taught.
Jun '10
Re: Obama and Who We Are
The same government road that runs by Bob's Barbecued Pork Palace runs by Lester's Boiled Carp Cove. If Bob succeeds and Lester doesn't, it ain't the road.
Edited on July 19, 2012 at 7:21pmNov '11
Re: Obama and Who We Are
It's really just the culmination of a trend that's been going on for about 100 years and has become part of the national makeup. Every time an entrepreneur talks about his gift to the local hospital as "giving something back", he's admitting that he took something to which he wasn't entitled.
I can use an excel spreadsheet to conduct analyses in 20 minutes that were impossible when I started in the financial services industry in 1972. Calculate the improvement in my productivity and multiply it by millions of like-experienced workers. I suspect such a figure would dwarf the combined wealth of Messrs Noyce, Moore and Gates.
If Bill Gates feels he needs to "give back" that's fine, but I'm not asking or expecting it.
Jun '10
Re: Obama and Who We Are
In the future, when asked on donation forms for my occupation, I intend to answer, "Robber Barron". The term just kind of whistles in my ears.
Re: Obama and Who We Are
I love this.
Apr '12
Re: Obama and Who We Are
Business ownes are familiar with this type of person who does not have a clue that a owner operator business is very different from the GE Corporation or Goldman Sachs mega machine. These owner operators do not have the line of credit to afford government changes in laws and a few too many employees on the payroll means the owner is going without a paycheck. They need encouragement. One reason Canadian business is doing OK is the government says thank you for risking everything and ignore those OWS types who are jealous and want what you have but without the risk or hard work. I was at a speech by the Canadian minister for business who spoke about the jealousy of those who see the success and want money but without the work. These may just be a word or a speech but they matter for the psychology of business. Obama's speech would chill the bones of any business owner and if they were doing any planning, any ideas to grow would be shelved for Romney as Prez. Then fasten your seat belts.