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'You didn't build that:' A theme out of context

By the CNN Wire Staff
updated 3:54 AM EDT, Fri August 31, 2012
Presidential candidate Mitt Romney delivers his acceptance speech on the final day of the Republican National Convention at the Tampa Bay Times Forum on Thursday, August 30. Presidential candidate Mitt Romney delivers his acceptance speech on the final day of the Republican National Convention at the Tampa Bay Times Forum on Thursday, August 30.
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Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
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Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
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Republican convention: The best photos
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Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
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Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
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Republican convention: The best photos
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Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
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Republican convention: The best photos
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Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
Republican convention: The best photos
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STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Obama's "You didn't build that" line was the heart of the GOP convention attack
  • Republicans say the attack reveals Obama's disdain for entrepreneurs
  • But the line has been taken out of context, a look at the transcript shows

(CNN) -- "You didn't build that."

That July comment by President Barack Obama was the cornerstone of this year's Republican National Convention. Republicans have seized on the phrase -- a seemingly stray clause in a line Obama delivered at a campaign stop in Virginia -- as a kind of Freudian slip that reveals the president's hostility to free enterprise.

The statements:

The phrase "We Built It" was the backdrop for speaker after speaker during Tuesday night's convention proceedings, and speakers have invoked it to paint Obama as an out-of-touch, big-government liberal.

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"That makes me think that Barack Obama has a problem with the American dream," GOP Chairman Reince Priebus said Tuesday.

"He said, 'You didn't build it.' Translation: 'It doesn't rightly belong to you,' " former Arkansas governor and 2008 presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee chimed in Wednesday.

House Speaker John Boehner delivered what may have been the most epic recounting of the line, putting it in the context of his family's Cincinnati tavern: "Now, let's say a guy walked into our bar, and before he could say anything, he overheard a regular telling his story," Boehner said Tuesday night. "Turns out this guy ran a small business, got involved in it while he was in school. Then, out of nowhere, his business partner died. They had just one customer. So he fought like hell through sleepless nights and close calls ... Now, if a guy walked into a bar and heard that story, and he said, 'Well, if you've got a business, you didn't build that,' well, you know what we'd do with him, don't you? We'd throw him out."

Vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan invoked it in his acceptance speech Wednesday, praising small business owners who show up "to open the door at 5 in the morning."

"Nobody did their thinking, and worrying, and sweating for them," Ryan said. "After all that work, and in a bad economy, it sure doesn't help to hear from their president that government gets the credit. What they deserve to hear is the truth: Yes, you did build that."

The clips that ran between speakers at the GOP convention took things further, heavily editing Obama's remarks to set up television-ready vignettes with business owners who took umbrage at the comment.

"Look, if you've been successful, you didn't get there on your own. You didn't get there on your own. I'm always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else ... If you've got a business -- you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen," was what delegates heard over the PA system.

The facts:

Obama's remark came at a July 13 speech at a firehouse in Roanoke, Virginia, where he attacked Republican opposition to his economic plans and defended the role of government in promoting economic growth. It is true that he used the phrase, "you didn't build that."

Here is the full text:

"Look, if you've been successful, you didn't get there on your own," he said. "You didn't get there on your own. I'm always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something -- there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there.

"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," he continued. "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."

So there it is. Everything before and after "You didn't build that" refers to infrastructure, education and public services.

Obama released a rebuttal to the criticism within two weeks of his Roanoke appearance. In a television spot, the president tells viewers, "Of course Americans build their own business. Everyday hardworking people sacrifice to meet a payroll, create jobs, and make our economy run. And what I said was that we need to stand behind them, as America always has. By investing in education, training, roads and bridges, research and technology." He called ads that used the edited version of his remarks "flat-out wrong."

The conclusion:

It's a classic example of a remark being taken out of context.

CNN's Matt Smith, Amy Roberts and Christine Brazill contributed to this report.

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Showing 12 comments

  • Thomas Jefferson 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand

    CNN needs to stop lying for Obama and start acting like a real outlet of journalism.

    The quote is actually much worse in its full context than even republicans give it credit for. Obama outright stated that people who succeed didn't do it because of their own hard work, their own ability, their own gumption. He thinks success is permitted only through government and his good graces which is absolutely appalling.

    I ask this of Obama... all Americans have access to the spoils of America - that's the essence of an equal opportunity country - so why isn't every individual successful?

    show more show less
  • PaleMoon 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand

    It certainly NOT out of context at all! When the President skeptically says he's struck by people who think they are successful because they are so smart, that is certainly not acting Presidential! For a man who is so determined to apologize for the US all over the world when he shouldn't, he should certainly apologize to America for the 'You didn't build that' speech. It is offensive and shallow. A man who thinks like that has no business in the White House.

    show more show less
  • kmnla 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand

    Even this text is misleading deco the paragragh break. The words " you didn't build that" clearly refer to roads and bridges. It is a sad day when Republicans have to build an entire campaign around heavily edited footage, which is the av equivalent of a lie. This is the tactic of a Goebbels, unworthy of a US political party.

    show more show less
  • Beta Traxx 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand

    Obama actually believes he is more important than the private sector, and all the meandering by Cnn and the lame-stream media isnt going to change that.

    show more show less
  • englewood69 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand

    Business arrives and their taxes build roads, families and security--- Government work and infrastructure is for business not a means

    show more show less
  • Isabelle Sanders 4 comments collapsed Collapse Expand

    "I'm always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was
    just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be
    because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something
    -- there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there."

    How exactly is that about infrastructure? That's the setup for "you didn't build that" and it's clearly denigrating the business owner. You're not the smartest guy in the room, you're not the hardest working, so don't go blathering on about your business being something you did. THAT'S WHAT HE SAID.

    show more show less
  • Run4orest 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand

    Want to know why the US is comptetitive at all anymore? It's because of our infrastructure, laws, and institutions that create an ordered environment in which business can exist and thrive. These countries like India that take our jobs, those jobs go only to certain cities and regions because the large majority of the countryside lacks these things.

    Taxes paid by everyone pays for that!

    show more show less
  • hadrian29 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand

    "Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you've got a business -- you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen."
    THAT'S what he said. You left that part out. And while I agree, he should have said "You didn't build THOSE", it's clear what he meant.

    show more show less
  • duke5343 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand

    US Citizens TAXES paid for roads and infracture- Businesses- Rich- Middleclass PAID FOR what we have the USG does NOT make revenue - INFACT the USG has Fluked UP near every project it has been in charge of

    The Writter is a LIAR- LIAR LIAR pants on Fire- OBAMA Ment Exactly WHAT he said

    show more show less
  • Sirned 2 comments collapsed Collapse Expand

    After watching the Republican audience cheer Clint Eastwood saying lawyers should not be presidents ( even though their guy Romney is one as were many of our founding fathers) Then cheering him for saying things that go against the Republican own Forign policies. Can you say la la land. They even cheered the silting of Obamas throat. Facts mean nothing to these kind of people. They are mean and simply ignorant or smart , selfish and greedy. Don't forget they sat silent when Romney spoke of helping the poor, elderly and students. But cheered with delight on every snarky and disrespectful words about Obama....No it doesn't matter to these people that they are being misled. They want to be misled. They want to believe these lies...We ain't in Kansas Dorothy. We are in some strange land where evil is trying to take over....And Romney is there appointed leader

    ...
    show more
  • duke5343 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand

    GOOD then you vote again for Hope & Change- no i mean FORWARD, which is a direction that obama has actually put in REVERSE the last 4 years, he is a LOOSER and should NEVER of been elected- Hilary would of been better for sure

    show more show less
  • emalvin 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand

    "If you've got a business -- you didn't build that," he continued. "Somebody else made that happen."

    I completely agree with the Presidents overall message of "achieving together" but what an awful choice of words in these sentences. Even in the context of the full speech, these lines send a terrible message to entrepreneurs. These hardworking people deserve our thanks and praise.

    With regards to the line on "fighting fires"... History is littered with individuals who have single-handedly stopped runaway fires in kitchens and campsites from becoming roaring machine of death and destruction. They too deserve our thanks.

    show more show less
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