We Are NOT Entitled to Success - Obama

Orange_County_Chopper said:

The more you make, the more the government takes, what's fair.

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It's fair. Most taxes are inherently regressive, a progressive income tax keeps the total tax rate for all roughly the same at around 39-43%. A flat tax would mean that the more you make the lower you total tax rate.

and roughly half don't pay anything

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Yes they do. Their total tax rate is roughly the same as everyone else.

1whirlwind said:

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Now, if Biden (one heartbeat away) said this I would just think...well there goes Joe again but it was our glorious leader that said......."We don't believe anybody is entitled to success in this country."



The Weekly Standard ^| Oct. 5,2012 | Daniel Halper

President Obama, speaking in Virginia, said, "We don't believe anybody is entitled to success in this country."


"This country does not just succeed when just a few are doing well at the top," Obama said, according to a rush transcript of the remarks. "It succeeds when the middle class gets bigger. Our economy does not grow from the top-down, it grows from the middle-out. We do not believe that anybody is entitled to success in this country. But we do believe in opportunity. We believe in a country where hard work pays off and responsibilities are rewarded and everybody is getting a fair shot and everybody's doing their fair share. And everybody's paying by the same rules. That is the country believe in. That is what we have been fighting for the last four years. That is what we're going to put in place in the next four years if you reelect me as president of the United States of America."


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This is almost VERBATIM what the Right has been saying non-stop for the last 30 years.

"Equality of opportunity, not equality of results".

You are not guaranteed a success, but you are guaranteed an OPPORTUNITY TO GIVE IT YOUR BEST SHOT.

So does this now offend the Right because Obama is saying it?

eldermike said:

I was going to stay out of this.......oh well.

There is no fair shot or fair share. In fact life is not fair by any possible measure of it.

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Actually I disagree! I think everyone is desperately afraid that LIFE IS FAIR.

And that's when we have to face up to our failures or the roots of our successes and who and what we really are.

Not who we fantasize.

Cute Tink said:

One thing I can agree on. We aren't entitled to success. We are entitled to the opportunity to succeed, but that depends on our own efforts - and I'm not sure he agrees (truly) on what that means.

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I agree. Seems to me the op has reading comprehension problem.

1whirlwind said:

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"This country does not just succeed when just a few are doing well at the top," Obama said, according to a rush transcript of the remarks. "It succeeds when the middle class gets bigger. Our economy does not grow from the top-down, it grows from the middle-out. We do not believe that anybody is entitled to success in this country. But we do believe in opportunity. We believe in a country where hard work pays off and responsibilities are rewarded and everybody is getting a fair shot and everybody's doing their fair share. And everybody's paying by the same rules. That is the country believe in. That is what we have been fighting for the last four years. That is what we're going to put in place in the next four years if you reelect me as president of the United States of America."

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That's a very capitalistic sentiment, and one that I'd expect Mitt Romney to share wholeheartedly.
How is it that these words, coming from Obama, are suddenly perceived as damning by the Christian Right? They reflect exactly the kind of mentality AND political ideology you people are looking for: a system that allows people to fail, that does NOT guarantee success if you haven't earned it, that - in short - does not force everybody to pay for individual mistakes.

But I have the terrible suspicion that the OP does not quite grasp what President Obama was communicating here. He just saw something about "not everybody being entitled to success", and concluded that because it was coming from the black socialist antichrist, it MUST say something like: "I want you all to fail!"

*sigh* I refuse to comment on the sheer amount of stupidity it takes to misread the statement like that.

kermit said:

How do you get from "We believe in a country where hard work pays off and responsibilities are rewarded and everybody is getting a fair shot and everybody's doing their fair share. And everybody's playing by the same rules." to "to each according to his needs, to each according to his abilities"? The fact that he said "hard work pays off" is completely counter to the idea of "to each according to his needs, to each according to his abilities".

I'm reminded of the South Park episode with the underpants gnomes.

Step 1: Collect underpants
Step 2: ----
Step 3: Profit

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There is a mix of ideas here that don't fit. Everybody is an impossible, fair share is another one. What is my fair share? Hard work is thrown is to trick you........try this. cover the words hard and work and go back and read it again.

Pretty typical Obama. Starts advocating Republican ideas and all of a sudden it's the end of the freaking world.

eldermike said:

There is a mix of ideas here that don't fit. Everybody is an impossible, fair share is another one. What is my fair share? Hard work is thrown is to trick you........try this. cover the words hard and work and go back and read it again.

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So we should selectively ignore the sections that don't agree with your preconceptions of what Obama said?

I choose to look at what people actually say and form an opinion rather than form an opinion and then ignore the parts that don't support it.

abdAlSalam said:

Pretty typical Obama. Starts advocating Republican ideas and all of a sudden it's the end of the freaking world.

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Yeah, and curiously enough, all of a sudden these Republican ideas are evil in the eyes of the Christian Right, because Obama said it.

Honestly, if that's the intellectual level of the typical Republican voter, I'm terribly glad to live on a different continent.

eldermike said:

There is a mix of ideas here that don't fit. Everybody is an impossible, fair share is another one. What is my fair share? Hard work is thrown is to trick you........try this. cover the words hard and work and go back and read it again.

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Perhaps you could do a statement by statement analysis followed by a summary - it would be to be able to understand what you're getting at

kermit said:

Sounds like a traditional conservative view.

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Yup.

I'm fine with those who distrust Obama on this. It is disapointing that some seem unable to read a full paragraph. .

kermit said:

I think that ignoring OCC will be like when the show Taxi wrote Tony out when Jeff Conaway was in drug rehab. They discovered that his absense had no affect on the show.

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Bobby, not Tony - but otherwise, I agree totally.

linssue55 said:

I have NEVER had children! Yet I have paid school taxes for 45 years. Is this fair??? NO, it is not!

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Even though you benefit from educated younger generations? Do you not benefit from society being educated?

linssue55 said:

I have NEVER had children! Yet I have paid school taxes for 45 years. Is this fair??? NO, it is not!

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Have you paid for your own public school education, adjusted for rising expenses ?

No one is entitled to success, they have to work for it. I wouldn't expect to be successful if I had done nothing to earn it. Where is the wrong in that? That's what happens when you have a society who believes they are somehow entitled to something with zero effort. What the President said is correct.

1whirlwind said:

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Now, if Biden (one heartbeat away) said this I would just think...well there goes Joe again but it was our glorious leader that said......."We don't believe anybody is entitled to success in this country."

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You aren't entitled to success in this country... why is that a outlandish statement?

Or do you support giving awards for just trying and just showing up?

Just because you try at something doesn't mean you will succeed.

kermit said:

I'm sure the doctors and nurses, most of whom attended public school, who will treat you as you when you grow old will disagree.

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What? on earth does that have to do with me paying school taxes when I have never had children????


Besides the dr's. and nurses get PAID for what they do.

Apples and oranges.

TheOtherHockeyMom said:

Why not? Do you not see any benefits in living in a community in which the children are educated and have the opportunity to grow successful and contribute?

I have kids, and they are in private school. That being said, I glady support the public schools as well with my tax dollars. I see benefits in a strong public school system all around me.

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You CHOSE to have children, I did NOT!!

That is like you being taxed to pay MY property taxes when you have NEVER owned property. I mean why not?, owning property benefits the community.

Also, compulsary education sucks (that's probably why your kids are in private school). Just another government beaurocracy that has failed miserably!! Gov. just wants to tax and they will get envolved in ANY market to collect our taxes, more money, more money, that's all they care about and they will use anyone to get it.

mpok1519 said:

Even though you benefit from educated younger generations? Do you not benefit from society being educated?

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I would answer yes to this IF the gov. had NOTHING whatsoever to do with education. Compulsary Education is a disaster, period. If parents had NEVER been taxed because of the gov schooling, parents could have taken this money and sent their kids to private schools and probably MUCH cheaper because the competition amongst these many schools would be profound.

Another failed venture by the Gov.. I mean look at the teachings and all the shootings/killings. Sub par education, kids out of control, drugs, bullying, spoiled dangerous kids, no respect for authority, teachers that don't care any more, schools falling apart, etc. etc., etc.. Any kind of a business the gov gets into is mostly a disaster.

Face it, the Gov. wants to totally take over businesses now. We did not elect them for this. They have no business getting into private business, making loans like they are a bank etc.. Private business is OUR (tax payers) business, the gov. is way to big, way to intrusive, they have become the bullies.