As you know from the primaries, I’m no fan of John Sununu.
But when it comes to Obama’s complete lack of understanding and disdain for what makes this country’s economy work, Sununu got it right yesterday
Despite the media hoopla, tell me exactly what was wrong with this statement:
In a conference call with reporters, former New Hampshire Governor John Sununu criticized President Obama’s comments in Virginia on Friday when, talking about how the government builds infrastructure, the president said, “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that.”The remarks, Sununu charged, were “insulting to the hardworking entrepreneurs who really do create jobs, who create businesses, who take out a second mortgage and take the chance and hire some people and get the business going. These are the people who are the backbone of our economy and the president clearly demonstrated that he has absolute no idea how the American economy functions. The men and women across America who have worked hard to build their businesses from the ground up is how our economy became the envy of the world, the American way and I wish this president would learn how to be an American.”
Boo hoo, the media is up in arms because of the last clause. But the analysis is dead on correct.
In the very same call Sununu clarified what he meant by “learn how to be an American”:
“What I thought I said, but I guess I didn’t say, is the President has to learn the American formula for creating business,” Sununu said. “The American formula for creating business is not have government creating business. The American formula for creating business—that I wish he would get comfortable with—is to create a climate in which entrepreneurs can thrive. If I didn’t give all that detail, I apologize.”
John Hinderaker attended the conference call, and had this observation of the media reaction during the call:
So you can see what is happening. The Romney campaign puts on a devastating show, and the only thing the Democratic Party reporters are interested in is how they can spin it back to Obama’s talking points.
Obama, doing his Elizabeth Warren imitation, was insulting the people who make this country work, and was rejecting the heart of our system.
Sununu hammered his points in a later Fox interview:
Obama needs to learn a few things, and the first is that the source of national wealth and prosperity is not the government. That doesn’t mean that government has no role, but is does mean that anyone who values our system understands that roads were built with tax dollars confiscated from private citizens who created wealth.
Commenter coralbrief put it in proper perspective:
I’m astonished that one critique of Obama’s business “didn’t build this” slur hasn’t made it to the forefront of conservative comment. We can’t deny that government helps business. But it’s not the roads that provide that help. It’s not the infrastructure. All societies have that. Red China (to use the politically incorrect but highly accurate term) has roads and infrastructure. So do Cuba, Venezuala, Russia, Syria, Iran, Iraq (etc.) [read the rest of his comment, it’s worth it]
The vision of Barack Obama and Elizabeth Warren of a populace beholden to the bureaucracy out of some misplaced debt of economic gratitude is contrary to our system.
It’s a question, as Margaret Thatcher put it, of whether state is master or servant:
Good for Margaret Thatcher and good for John Sununu.
Obama is a threat to economic freedom. Someone needs to say it.
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