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It has become the new Republican attack on President Obama: He thinks Americans are lazy.
GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney leveled that charge yesterday while campaigning in South Carolina. "Sometimes, I just don't think that President Obama understands America," he said. "I say that because this week -- or was it last week? -- he said that Americans are lazy. I don't think that describes America."
Today, Rick Perry uses the line of attack in a new TV ad. "Can you believe that?" Perry says to the camera. "That's what our president thinks is wrong with America? That Americans are lazy?"
And even in the contest for New Mexico's open Senate seat, Republican candidate Heather Wilson called on the Democrats running for the race to repudiate Obama's remarks.
“President Obama ... said the reason we’re not creating more jobs in this country is because Americans have been ‘lazy’,” she said. “He's wrong about the American people and he's wrong to have criticized America in front of the world."
But when you examine what Obama said on Saturday -- to business leaders at the APEC summit in Hawaii -- it's pretty clear that his critics are taking him out of context. He wasn't calling Americans lazy; rather, he was calling U.S. business practices to attract foreign investors lazy. In fact, you could interpret his full remarks as a call to arms to improve on that front.
MR. McNERNEY: I think one related question, looking at the world from the Chinese side, is what they would characterize as impediments to investment in the United States. And so that discussion I’m sure will be part of whatever dialogue you have. And so how are you thinking about that?
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, this is an issue, generally. I think it’s important to remember that the United States is still the largest recipient of foreign investment in the world. And there are a lot of things that make foreign investors see the U.S. as a great opportunity -- our stability, our openness, our innovative free market culture.
But we’ve been a little bit lazy, I think, over the last couple of decades. We’ve kind of taken for granted -- well, people will want to come here and we aren’t out there hungry, selling America and trying to attract new business into America. And so one of things that my administration has done is set up something called SelectUSA that organizes all the government agencies to work with state and local governments where they’re seeking assistance from us, to go out there and make it easier for foreign investors to build a plant in the United States and put outstanding U.S. workers back to work in the United States of America.
And we think that we can do much better than we’re doing right now. Because of our federalist system, sometimes a foreign investor comes in and they’ve got to navigate not only federal rules, but they’ve also got to navigate state and local governments that may have their own sets of interests. Being able to create if not a one-stop shop, then at least no more than a couple of stops for people to be able to come into the United States and make investments, that’s something that we want to encourage.
This GOP attack -- that Obama thinks Americans are lazy -- is the latest Republican suggestion that the president is somehow un-American or espouses anti-American views.
Previously, Republicans have (falsely) accused him of apologizing for America or not believing in American exceptionalism (when, in fact, he said he believes in it).
*** UPDATE *** Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt emails First Read: “Rick Perry and Mitt Romney apparently don’t think the president should encourage CEOs to promote the United States abroad in order to create American jobs and attract investment at home. They have opposed the president’s efforts to create 2 million jobs now and instead of laying out their own plan to do so, they have endorsed a radical budget plan that would wipe out investments necessary to create jobs in programs like education, research and development and clean energy and shift a greater tax burden away from millionaires and billionaires onto the backs of the middle class and seniors.”
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SOB got a nose bleed yet, or is it just deep brown.
"Romulian Romney" is just crazy, and is a very dangerous individual on several levels. President Obama loves America very much, and repects all Ameircans equally. President Obama is always talking about the many strengths of America, and he is very proud of the American People. The President has been fighting for creating American jobs, and he wants all Americans to feel pride in themselves. Hey! Hey! Ho! Ho! The Party Of No has got to GO!!
Progressive: "Obama respects all Americans equally"
LOL, who are you kidding? Here's the truth about Obama and his donors and his "green" pet projects.........
"Solyndra, which received $535 million in loan guarantees and whose chief investor was Obama campaign bundler, George Kaiser;"
"Brightsource Energy, which received $1.6 billion and whose senior adviser is Robert Kennedy, Jr., an early Obama backer;"
"Solar Reserve, which got a $737 million loan, and whose major investor, Michael Froman, was a deputy assistant to the president. Froman bundled up to $500,000 for the president's 2008 campaign;"
"Granite Reliable Wind Generation, which received a $168.9 million loan. The company's majority owner is Nancy Ann DeParle, a White House deputy chief of staff and former head of the president's health care communications team during the reform debate; "
"Abound Solar, which received $400 million in grants. A key investor is billionaire heiress Pat Stryker, who gave $87,000 to Obama's inauguration committee, and hundreds of thousands more to Democratic causes."
More cackle-berries from the escaped hen!
Hey Leona - can you lay a couple for me?
I prefer mine scrambled honey!
Feisty,
Just one question........are those drugs you take prescription or illegal?
LOL
Now the run away hen is psychic to boot! lol
No drugs sweet cheeks, I'm high on life! ;o)
Feisty Redhead.....you said it....high on life, baby!!! Those negative nellie naysayers would not recognize that cause they are so NEGATIVE. It brings you down. Have you heard Chris Matthews talk about them lately? He's right on point.
Are you serious, Millions of tons of Methane are being released as we speak and you are worried about a drop in the bucket for Solar Energy. How much has been spent on the Wars for Oil. Oil subsidies. Get over the America=Me. Think Global.
So today, at one of Bachman's rallies, a woman asked Bachman what she thought of Obama sending troops to Australia. As astute as ever, Bachman was taken aback and started talking about the dangers of foreign entanglements....apparently thinking that those troops were being sent down under to wage war on our Aussie friends. This fallacy, of course, will become fact in republican lure--that Obama declared war on one of our closest allies.......sigh, I'll never forget where I was when I found out that we invaded Australia!
Crazy part is she is a Home Schooler, can you imagine what she taught her children?
this active voting american citizen is damn tired of the petty sniping that so often gon on in a campaign - I'm damn tired of the 'my side of the aisle' vs 'your side of the aisle' - we are supposed to be one from many - not my side v your side - when will the madness stop? Probably never
Because it is a distraction from the real issues and their solutions. What I really liked about President Obama, he got fed up with it and brought the issues to the American Public. That opened up a whole new can of worms, crawling out from behind the cracks in D.C.
Hey Spanky-
I take it back... I guess you are not as dumb as I though... law school really paid off... Good to see you remember to reply as "no joe, no bo, nj"... take that account out for a right-wing spin… Remember- always turn right at every interception… you’ll eventually get there…
Sick of Bickering, since you believe everything is about Oil, and not renewable Energy; Esp. in Alaska. How do you propose to save the Earth from the Millions of Tons of methane now being released from under the ice cap Arctic. Anxious to hear solution....
why should any american want to work when they see OBOMBO
and the demos and the liberals all sitting around doing nothing
but complaining for more taxes with their hands out?
Ervin you just unknowingly proved the author absolutely correct about Republicans.
Ervin just proved that Obama was describing Liberals and the Democrats. Those are the lazy Americans Obama was referring to.
Conservatives (BTW: not all conservatives are Republicans) are too busy working hard to pay all the new debt created by the last two administrations, Bush and Obama.
Democrat the Party of the Working Class People. Because we expect tax revenue to be used to fit the definition of tax revenue. Republicans get confused.
As indicated by the article and re-reading the President's statement, this time in context....instead of being incensed for insult to my industriousness, I am now chilled to the bone with dread, because the context seems to indicate that he is all about even more of a destruction of state sovereignity and state's rights -even greater federal controls and federal government, all in the name of making foreign investment easier. I seem to remember foreign investment being considered a threat to our national security and a threat to US workers and a threat to US corporations in the 1970's and all the government's efforts were to stop the Japanese from owning us lock, stock and barrel. Another power grab, but thank you for pointing that out because I might have missed the real agenda while being put out at being called "lazy" Incidentally, I work more hours for less pay and all my expenses have increased since Mr Obama took office....somehow, that doesn't seem solely the responsibility of any one person, but I have seen absolutely nothing to make my situation any better in the forseeable future either.
As much as the POTUS should be respected, the POTUS should be more than capable of stating a point positive or negative without insulting American business, i.e. Americans. It was a bad choice of words. Those who say no it wasn't, then it that would signal it was an intentional insult to American business, i.e. Americans. I prefer to think it was a bad choice of words.
An EXACT copy of what Obama said, from the very article that calls it out of context:
This article is out of context. It's pretty clear Obama is calling Americans lazy. Perhaps he is not totally out of line in saying that though. With all his give away programs and entitlements and robin hood tax and spend programs, lazy is being encouraged. In fact it's the basis of Progressive philosophy. Keep the poor needy and then give them entitlements, and you have a Democrat voter. Give them fish, and they will vote for you! Teach them to fix, and they don't need the Regressives anymore.
So some Americans are lazy. The others work hard for a living. Thus the difference between liberals and conservatives.
Do not trust the media. They are out right liars. They repeatedly call this article out of context, they use such obvious slanted and biased wording in their articles to promote their leftist agenda, and discredit the conservative perspective.
And you libbies call FOX biased. Perhaps they are, but the hypocrisy of not judging leftist media equally discredits your whole argument. I find both sides reprehensible for doing this.
You just did the exact same thing. Out of context means, without the surrounding text to support the quote. People aren't disputing the words he spoke or chose. What you did is much like the Romney ad where he "Quotes" Obama quoting McCain saying "if we continue to talk about the economy, we lose." and aks as if those are Obama's words and beliefs. Context is everything.
Nope, don't think so. Read the first sentence of the second paragraph. He doesn't refer to anything that you are stating.
McCain isn't even mentioned in Obama's quote!!!
So based on what the media is presenting, I am interpreting exactly as Obama said it. I could have copied and pasted the whole quote, but it wouldn't change the facts. He said what he said, and you may just not like it, but that too doesn't change the facts.
You apparently are adding in stuff or falling for misleading opinions presented by the biased media.