Last Friday at a
campaign event in Virginia, President Obama
admitted that his plan for America
includes public ownership of all private business. He laid the foundation for his impending
takeover of property from working class job creators by claiming federal credit
for all business success.
“If you own a business
-- you didn’t build that.”
The message was
explicit. If Americans didn’t build
their own business, then they have no claim to ownership rights for that
business. Left unsaid by Obama was that
after confiscating all private means of production, he would turn his attention
to taking away your guns.
While this is not quite correct, it is the story being
painted by the Romney campaign and their uncoordinated surrogates. Never mind that the “that” that business
owners didn’t build refers to the preceding sentence’s reference to “roads and
bridges”, conveniently omitted in Romney’s retelling. If you are a business owner who personally
paid for and constructed your own roads and bridges, I apologize and stand
corrected; otherwise, “you didn’t build that” is entirely accurate and
un-newsworthy, except in 2012.
The irony is that the opposing candidate from Michigan, or Utah, or Massachusetts, appears
to agree with the President on his essential point. The next day, Romney said at an event:
“I know that you recognize a lot of people help you in a
business. Perhaps the bank, the investors. There is no question your mom and
dad, your school teachers. The people who provide roads, the fire, the
police (emphasis added). A lot of
people help.”
So the Romney campaign has been attacking the President for
a position that it shares. Only in
American politics can you attack your opponent for having the same position
without shame or the slightest embarrassment.
This is the stuff that gets me worked up. But my writing about this is not changing any
votes (yet). Only well-crafted attack
advertising changes votes. Willie Horton
changes votes. Swiftboat Veterans for
Truth change votes. John Roberts changes
votes. Obama needs an ad that equally
distorts his opponent’s words in order to have an impact and move votes in his
direction.
Obama is beginning to fight back against the rampant
out-of-context-osity of the current GOP campaign. Obama accused Romney of “knowingly twisting
my words around to suggest that I don’t value small business,” adding: “When
folks just like, omit entire sentences of what you said, they start kind of
slicing and dicing… he may have gone a little over the edge there.”
That’s a bit more of an academic counterattack than I had in
mind. Only the academic elite will hear
that line, and they are already in the tank for Obama, with their fancy “facts”
and “reason”. You can’t bring a
teleprompter to a knife fight. Unfortunately,
calling out a lie at a public event is no longer effective. Not enough voters hear the speeches, and the
lie and the truth are guaranteed equal time on cable regardless of merit. So there has to be another way.
Thankfully for Obama, Romney is the gift that keeps on
giving. Here are his words from 2002
before the Olympic Games:
"You Olympians,
however, know you didn't get here solely on your own power. For most of you, loving parents, sisters or
brothers, encouraged your hopes, coaches guided, communities built venues in
order to organize competitions. All Olympians stand on the shoulders of those
who lifted them. We’ve already cheered the Olympians, let’s also cheer the
parents, coaches, and communities. All right! [pumps fist].”
This seemingly benign quote (except that "you Olympians" sounds oddly close to "you people") provides the fodder for my
proposed Obama attack ad. Here’s the
script:
Scary Voice:
Mitt Romney. Now he’s taking
credit for our Olympians:
Grainy video clip
of Romney giving his speech: "You Olympians, however, know you
didn't get here solely on your own power.”
Quick cut to images of Carl Lewis running, Mary Lou Retton
smiling, Michael Phelps waving a flag, the Dream Team walking into the stadium
for Opening Ceremonies, while voice over continues:
“Obama is proud of our athletes and recognizes that their
individual courage, commitment and fortitude made them great – not Mitt
Romney.”
Back to Grainy video clip: "You
Olympians, however, know you didn't get here solely on your own power.”
Happy optimistic voice: “Obama knows that you succeed in America because
of hard work. Mitt Romney believes our
Olympians take short cuts because they couldn’t do it alone. But there are no short cuts in life, unless
you are a billionaire with Swiss bank account who plays by a different set of
rules.”
Back to Grainy video clip: "You
Olympians, however, know you didn't get here solely on your own power.”
Scary Voice:
“Mitt Romney, why do you insult the American spirit of rugged
individualism? Our athletes have earned
and deserve your respect. They play by
the rules. That’s the American way. Do you?”
Closing picture of Mitt Romney and his Bain partners
surrounded by money, with the final words from his Olympic pep talk voiced over
with grainy video clip: “All right! [pumps fist].”
3 months, 13 days left.
**********************************************************************************
Obama full quote from a campaign event in Virginia on Friday, not quite so evil in its
entirety and more indicative of a uniter and not a divider:
“If you were
successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great
teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable
American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in
roads and bridges. 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.
The point is, is that
when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also
because we do things together. There are some things, just like fighting fires,
we don’t do on our own. I mean, imagine if everybody had their own fire
service. That would be a hard way to organize fighting fires.
So we say to ourselves,
ever since the founding of this country, you know what, there are some things
we do better together. That’s how we funded the GI Bill. That’s how we created
the middle class. That’s how we built the Golden Gate
Bridge or the Hoover Dam. That’s how we invented the
Internet. That’s how we sent a man to the moon. We rise or fall together as one
nation and as one people, and that’s the reason I’m running for president —
because I still believe in that idea. You’re not on your own, we’re in this
together.”
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