You didn’t build that: Obama says wealthy are ‘lucky,’ ‘blessed,’ ‘fortunate’

[ScienceRocks]

You didn’t build that: Obama says wealthy are ‘lucky,’ ‘blessed,’ ‘fortunate’

One month to the day after his infamous ‘you didn’t build that’ speech, President Obama’s description of wealthy people did not include “smart” or “hardworking,” as he instead ascribed their success to good luck.

“If you’re lucky enough, and fortunate enough, and been blessed enough to be in the other two percent, the top two percent, you still get a tax cut for your first $250,000 of income,” Obama said during a campaign stop in Council Bluffs, Iowa. “All we’re saying is after that, maybe you can do a little bit more to help pay down this deficit and invest in things like education that help our economy grow.”

Obama avoided the cringe-inducing soundbite, but his remarks echoed the sense of his “you didn’t build that” speech in Virginia.

“I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart,” Obama said on July 13th. “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 . . . 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.”

Today, the president affirmed that government must “do its part” in cutting wasteful spending, but he emphasized that the wealthy must do “a little more” in paying taxes.

You didn

These people did a lot more than just get lucky. They worked hard and made good choices. Sure, there's some luck, but come on Obama. We should be praising intelligent people for making us the power we're today.

 

[JamesInFlorida]

You didn’t build that: Obama says wealthy are ‘lucky,’ ‘blessed,’ ‘fortunate’

One month to the day after his infamous ‘you didn’t build that’ speech, President Obama’s description of wealthy people did not include “smart” or “hardworking,” as he instead ascribed their success to good luck.

“If you’re lucky enough, and fortunate enough, and been blessed enough to be in the other two percent, the top two percent, you still get a tax cut for your first $250,000 of income,” Obama said during a campaign stop in Council Bluffs, Iowa. “All we’re saying is after that, maybe you can do a little bit more to help pay down this deficit and invest in things like education that help our economy grow.”

Obama avoided the cringe-inducing soundbite, but his remarks echoed the sense of his “you didn’t build that” speech in Virginia.

“I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart,” Obama said on July 13th. “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 . . . 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.”

Today, the president affirmed that government must “do its part” in cutting wasteful spending, but he emphasized that the wealthy must do “a little more” in paying taxes.

You didn

These people did a lot more than just get lucky. They worked hard and made good choices. Sure, there's some luck, but come on Obama. We should be praising intelligent people for making us the power we're today.

Agreed. Of course there is some luck involved in being successful (unless someone is a trust-fund baby, then I guess it's all luck on their individual part).

But I think so many people (on both sides) ultimately like to blame others for their failures. Democrats blame the rich and wealthy, whereas Republicans blame Obama/Dems and their policies. It's ridiculous. The secret to success isn't brain surgery. So many people either attempt to work hard, or attempt to work smart. But reality is that you need to do BOTH. For the simple fact that you cannot truly do one without doing the other. People just need to take some responsibility and take the bull by the horns.

edit: As I said there is SOME luck involved-but reality is that you make your own luck by putting yourself in position to become "lucky".

 

[Lakhota]

Aw, some new twists on an old theme. Keep beating that dead horse...

Folks with an IQ at or above Forrest Gump level know exactly what Obama was talking about. They digested the full context.