There’s been much debate on the Internet lately about what precisely President Obama meant when he said Friday, “Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen” and to what extent that meant the private sector owed its success to public sector spending. The Obama campaign itself tried to clarify the point today.
It is worth noting that Obama has been making similar points in campaign speeches throughout the year. Here’s such a passage from a May speech in Seattle, with key passages highlighted:
That’s not who we are. That’s not what built this country. That’s not reflective of what’s best in us. We built this country together. We built railroads and highways, we built the Hoover Dam and the Golden Gate Bridge — we built those things together. We sent my grandfather’s generation to college on the GI Bill -– together. We did these things not because they benefited any particular individual, any particular group; we did these things because we were building a platform for everybody to be able to succeed. We were creating the conditions for everybody to be able to succeed. These things made us all richer. They gave us all opportunity. (Applause.) They moved us all together, all forward, as one nation, and as one people.
And that’s the true lesson of our past. We love the free market. We believe in rewarding entrepreneurship and risk. But when I hear my opponent and some of these folks talk as if somehow nobody had anything to do with the success of these businesses and our entrepreneurs, I have to remind them that we — we the people — invested in creating the Internet that allowed Microsoft and Google and Facebook to thrive. There’s not a business in this country that’s not benefiting from roads and bridges and airports — the investments we make together. Every time we’ve got a kid who’s getting a great education in a public school and able to go to get an outstanding education at a public university, we’re contributing to the possibilities of the free market succeeding. And that’s the right vision for our future. That’s the reason I’m running for President, because I believe in that vision. I believe in that vision. (Applause.)
And that’s the true lesson of our past. We love the free market. We believe in rewarding entrepreneurship and risk. But when I hear my opponent and some of these folks talk as if somehow nobody had anything to do with the success of these businesses and our entrepreneurs, I have to remind them that we — we the people — invested in creating the Internet that allowed Microsoft and Google and Facebook to thrive. There’s not a business in this country that’s not benefiting from roads and bridges and airports — the investments we make together. Every time we’ve got a kid who’s getting a great education in a public school and able to go to get an outstanding education at a public university, we’re contributing to the possibilities of the free market succeeding. And that’s the right vision for our future. That’s the reason I’m running for President, because I believe in that vision. I believe in that vision. (Applause.)
