Liberals wrong to dismiss Obama's 'you didn't build that' comment

A personal note: I’ve routinely laughed off right-wing critics of President Obama who say he is a socialist and an apologist for terrorists overseas. In reality, much of his fiscal policy has consisted of tax cuts, and most of his foreign policy has centered on pounding al-Qaida with Predator Drone strikes.

But I think liberals are off the mark when they dismiss Obama’s “you didn’t build that” comment – a reference to business owners -- as a simple gaffe. What’s more, the left’s suggestion that Mitt Romney is unfairly pouncing on those remarks and will gain no traction from that tactic is, I think, entirely wrong.

Clearly, Obama was referencing the fact that government initiatives such as roads and bridges and the Internet and a quality education system all assist businesses. He has made that point many times. But this time he failed to properly connect infrastructure to business success and instead went off on a riff that was disturbing.

As the son of parents who were small business owners (not entrepreneurs but parents who worked their a---- off to give their kids a solid start) I say that Obama’s remarks seemed to denigrate those who believe that a strong work ethic and dedicated school achievement pays off.

The mocking tone of his remarks last Friday in Virginia, for the first time, make me consider that maybe the conservatives are correct – maybe Obama does have a different vision of America.

Here’s Obama, addressing successful business owners: “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.” 

For Obama to suggest that successful businesses are created thanks to quality roads and bridges and good teachers is, to me, preposterous. If you assume that most Americans have a similar level of infrastructure and public education available to them, how does that give any entrepreneur a leg up? Should the business community bow down and praise the federal government for making all their success possible?

I also believe the condescending liberals will come to regret their discounting of Romney’s response to all of this.  The presumptive GOP nominee, who is much more effective on the stump than just a few months ago, had this to say on 

Wednesday in Ohio about Obama’s ill-advised comments:

“The idea, to say that Steve Jobs didn’t build Apple, that Henry Ford didn’t build Ford Motor . . . to say something like that is not just foolishness: it’s insulting to every entrepreneur, every innovator, in America. And it’s wrong.”

As he has for months on the campaign trail, Romney also referred to Jim Liautaud as an ideal example of American ingenuity.

When he graduated second from the bottom in his high school graduating class in 1983, Jimmy was given two choices by his father: shape up and go to college, or join the military. Jimmy devised a third option and his dad agreed -- $25,000 of the father’s seed money to build a business, with dad retaining a 48 percent ownership interest.

Jimmy used that gift to start a sandwich delivery business which was run out of a garage. Today that Illinois-based company, Jimmy John’s -- partly due to their “freaky fast” delivery -- has more than 1,300 franchises around the country.

That’s the kind of story Americans love. But it also appears to be the kind of story that Obama downgrades and dismisses. After all, Liautaud could not have delivered his sandwiches if America had no roads – right?