Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney isn’t backing down his criticism of President Obama’s “you didn’t build that” comment and, in a recent interview, doubled down his attack on the president, saying Obama’s entire speech is “disconcerting.”
Last night on the Kudlow Report, Romney was asked whether or not his criticism of President Barack Obama’s small business comments was fair. Romney said it was not only fair, but that Obama’s speech needs to be analyzed more closely.
President Obama has been taking heat over the past week for his “you didn’t build that” comment, aimed at entrepreneurs and small business owners who the president argues could not thrive without the heavy hand of government.
“Well, just read the whole speech,” Romney told Kudlow. “I found the speech even more disconcerting than just that line. The context is worse than the quote. The context he says, you know, you think you’ve been successful because you’re smart but he says a lot of people are smart.”
Always a staunch supporter of free markets, Romney argued that the government needs to pull back from interfering with the economy. The president has argued for increasing government spending in order to stimulate the economy.
Romney said that giving the power back to the people with minimal government interference has been a staple of the American experience.
“We have always been a nation that has celebrated a success of various kinds.”
Romney said that President Obama has his philosophy “upside down.” Business does not come from government, but government is derived from revenue it collects from business.
“If you have a business and you started it, you did build it and you deserve credit for that. It was not built for you by government. And by the way, we pay for government. Government doesn’t come free. The people who begin enterprises, the people who work in enterprises, they’re the ones paying for government.”
Romney then shifted gears during the last part of the segment and defended his record at Bain Capital:
“Look, I’m very proud of my experience at Bain Capital. I hope people understand that I was investing other people’s money for them. I was compensated, if we were successful The returns came to groups that included charities, college endowments. Those are the people who received the greatest rewards from our successes.”
