Oh No, He Didn’t!
But in the days since the Campaigner in Chief told business owners that “if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own,” his apologists and his campaign have been very vehement that Barry did not actually say what he in fact did. They’ve even gone so far as to slide the president’s words off onto his political opponent, Mitt Romney.
Just a few days ago, the Obama campaign released the following ad claiming that Romney put words into the president’s mouth:
The only problem is, Barack Obama said exactly what Mitt Romney claims he did:
Of course, the argument du jour is that Barry was taken out of context. Well, here’s some context: LINK So, what do you think Obama meant?
(For a mind-bendingly overwrought interpretation of what the president meant, check out this article from Ezra Klein’s Wonkblog.
Tyranmax
ReplyDeletePerhaps you are missing the subtle nuances of what Obama is saying. Just as the collective and not you built your own business or did your own work it is also true that Obama did not say you did not build that since it is the collective and not Obama that is ultimately responsible for what Obama says.....
Unless it is something bad and then of course it is Bush's fault.
Indie, you sound like you read the Wonkblog article. The author takes the discussion all the way down to the fundamental debate between free-will and determinism! But my question has always been this: If we have no free will, why are we trying to change anything?
ReplyDeletetyranmax
ReplyDeleteEinstein is famous for his statement "I refuse to believe that God throws dice with the Universe"
He said this in response to his distaste with Quantum theory. Half life are an average of the random decay for particles but a single particle can decay in the next instance or never.
He was a predeterminist. his religious beleifs were that God's plan was set for the world so he did not like Quantum Theory and thought it would be proved wrong one day however as it is one of the best theories we have he had to accept it as a good model for Physics.
To my mind the predeterminist are trying to order the universe to meet their own end. I reject that. I think God does throw dice with the Universe. It is the only way to be Good instead of Evil. IF everything were preset and all decisions a fait acompli then God's goodness is little more than the running of binary code.
If instead we have free will and he allows random events including bad stuff like earthquakes. Well then goodness is a choice and it actually tests morality.
The wonk blog is factually in error however. Klein presupposes Obama is talking about the guy that built the road. Wrong! He clearly meant that you with your own business are not to be given the credit because you used teh services of teachers to educate you and roads to deliver your product.
This is a fallacy. Without the hard work and ingenuity of the entreprenuer the product would not exist to begin with. And if Obama is correct in his suppostion then the roads are pointless anyways.
just think the Wonk Blog guy was wa-a-a-ay over-thinking it. I don't think from that statement alone one can determine whether Obama is a determinist or not.
ReplyDeleteAs for myself, here is what I believe: if a bird takes off, then it becomes certain that bird will eventually need to land. Everything else is up to the bird. We live in a world set in motion and, as with the airborne bird, there's an eventual end to the flight. As to the rest, that's all up to us.
Oddly enough it is the liberals who are more likely tosubscribe to Predeterminism since it is in their nature to believe they can control everything.
ReplyDeleteWeird, isn't it?
ReplyDeletetmax: i left a comment on law's thread and it got nuked, but i wanted you to know that i'm gonna order something extra on wednesday at the chick in your honor.
ReplyDeletepoking libs in the eye = #winning!
Patti, thumbs up.
ReplyDelete