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Young Voters Speak Out: Each day, RR.com will spotlight politically minded youth writers from throughout the U.S. speaking their minds on Election 2012. First-time voters, student journalists and new graduates will debate the Obama vs. Romney race to the White House. Young Democrats, Republicans and ‘Undecided’ Americans are eager to play politics and choose the next Commander & Chief.
Read Milton Daley's thoughts from a right-leaning perspective:
"You didn't build that." Ever since Barack Obama said those infamous words a few weeks ago they have become a focal part of the campaign. Obama's critics state that those words demonstrate the president's belief in collectivism and denigrate anyone who has accomplished anything by claiming that none of it would be possible without the government. Since then, those words have started to follow the president on the campaign like an albatross and he has started to walk them back.
The president argued that his statement merely meant that government roads, bridges, and teachers are what allowed successful individuals to become successful in the first place. That belief is more ludicrous than claiming that the economy is in good shape at the moment! If one wants evidence of what Barack Obama meant, they only have to look at the words surrounding the statement.
Obama starts off by saying that he is always struck by those who feel that they became successful on their own merit. He then continues by saying that there are a lot of hardworking and smart people in the world. This reflects his belief that success is brought on more by luck rather than hard work, which is also his justification as to why everyone deserves a share of everyone's money. Obama continues to rant that nobody is in the world alone and that he wants to see an America where we are all in this together, especially when it comes to finances.
Those statements represent a kind of Freudian slip by the president that reveals a larger truth. It coincides with outbursts on the 2008 campaign where he said things like, "I want to spread the wealth around" or "Let's fundamentally transform America." Obama believes in collectivism and that it is the government's right to redistribute wealth. It should come as no surprise then that the man who does not believe in hard work is attempting to gut the work requirements for welfare reform.
This is not the first time that Obama has tried to walk back his words. He also claimed he was taken out of context when he said he wanted to spread the wealth around. Fast-forward almost four years later and his entire campaign is about fairness, the rich paying their fair share and more entitlements
The only thing that was taken out of context was Obama's promise to America. He brought change all right but it's the kind of change that we are all paying for.
