President Obama said on Tuesday that he can handle criticism, but has "no patience" for Mitt Romney's criticism of his "you didn't build that" line to business owners. Romney has turned Obama's July 13 comment into a focal point of his stump speech, saying that Obama is hostile to business and thinks entrepreneurs owe their success to the government. In an ad, Obama says the GOP is taking his words out of context to suggest he doesn't stand behind small business. "They're flat-out wrong," Obama says. The Democratic National Committee is launching an effort to "turn the page" on the GOP's attacks by arguing that Romney has been friendly to the super rich and giant corporations, but he's the one with a bad record on small business. Will Obama's push-back work?
Obama can't un-say his telling remark: Obama probably "wishes he hadn't said it, but he did," says Mary Katherine Ham at Hot Air. He told business owners they should happily pay higher taxes because the government provided them with teachers and roads. It was "a casual dismissal of what it takes to succeed," mixed with the insulting suggestion that entrepreneurs are giving nothing back, even though they do pay taxes. "Gee, I wonder why everyone heard it wrong."
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