by Two weeks later, President Barack Obama is still trying to pick up the pieces from his less-than-savvy comments about entrepreneurs. Mitt Romney has been basking in Obama’s disastrous remarks, creating an anti-Obama TV commercial and a campaign theme about how the president doesn’t understand American capitalism.
And it appears to be working. A recent USA/Today Gallup poll showed that 61% of respondents think that the government is intervening too much with individuals and businesses. They said that this percentage was the highest number they’ve ever seen since they started asking the question in 1992. When asked how Mitt Romney would do handling the economy as president 63% of the public felt he would do well.
Now, the president is busy trying to explain his comments from July 13th in Roanoke, Virginia when he implied that entrepreneurs didn’t get to where they are on their own. At that time he said, in part, “Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.”
As a campaign event in California on Monday night, Obama said,
“I believe with all my heart that it is the drive and the ingenuity of Americans who start businesses that lead to their success. I always have and I always will. The ability for somebody who’s willing to work hard, put in their sweat and their sacrifice to turn their idea into a profitable business, that’s the nature of America. That’s what helped make our economy the envy of the world.”
Apparently, even some of Obama’s supporters are commenting on his remarks. Senator Bob Casey, Pennsylvania Democrat and friend to the president, said Monday,
“Everyone knows that when someone builds a business and is successful, they’re successful for a variety of reasons. One of the reasons they’re successful is they work hard. Usually, sometimes they just get lucky, but a lot of the times — probably most of the time, at least in terms of people I’ve talked to over the years, it’s hard work.”
