Context matters...you didn't build that...

If you have been on the internet lately you may have noticed a meme taken from a recent speech Obama gave in Roanoke, Virginia.  Recently, I found out that a well known preacher blocked me on twitter. I always gave him at least a hundred words of context and generally an hour or more (sometimes three hours) of his unedited lectures and sermons. If I, a "Pharisee", a "Sadducee", cannot bring myself to criticize someone out of context, what do you think I think about pulling a sentence or two out of a paragraph and sometimes not even quoting the entire sentence? Unfortunately Jesus never taught people to take people in context.

"You didn't build that!" is half a sentence taken from the following section of Obama's speech.  At the most I have only seen the two sentences in bold quoted.

There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who agree with me -- because they want to give something back. They know they didn’t -- 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. Let me tell you something -- there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there. (Applause.)

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. 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. I mean, imagine if everybody had their own fire service. That would be a hard way to organize fighting fires.

So we say to ourselves, ever since the founding of this country, you know what, there are some things we do better together. That’s how we funded the GI Bill. That’s how we created the middle class. That’s how we built the Golden Gate Bridge or the Hoover Dam. That’s how we invented the Internet. That’s how we sent a man to the moon. We rise or fall together as one nation and as one people, and that’s the reason I’m running for President -- because I still believe in that idea. You’re not on your own, we’re in this together. (Applause.)

So all these issues go back to that first campaign that I talked about, because everything has to do with how do we help middle-class families, working people, strivers, doers -- how do we help them succeed? How do we make sure that their hard work pays off? That’s what I've been thinking about the entire time I've been President. [1]

The problem is that I agree.  No man is an island unto themselves.  I attend evangelical churches that forecast God's judgment and credit America's success with God's blessing.  I credit Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines a great deal for America's success.  My parents live in an area that the government cleared of malaria.  We have the world's best freight rail system.  Also, I am blogging on the internet.

  

This is one of Obama's common themes.  We all need each other.  In another speech, he put it this way. 

Now, I want to be very clear here. Nobody wants to punish success in America. The Republicans talk about class warfare. That’s -- our goal is to make success available for everybody. What’s great about this country is you’ve got a good idea, you’ve got a service that nobody else has thought of, you know what, go out there, start a business. (Applause.) Make money. I want everybody out there to be rich. That’s great. Anybody in America should be able to make it if they try. (Applause.)

But none of us make it on our own. Somebody -- an outstanding entrepreneur like a Steve Jobs -- somewhere along the line he had a teacher who helped inspire him. (Applause.) All those great Internet businesses wouldn’t have succeeded unless somebody had invested in the government research that helped to create the Internet. We don't succeed on our own. We succeed because this country has, in previous generations, made investments that allow all of us to succeed. (Applause.)

So this is the land of opportunity. But we have to remember -- those of us who have done well, we should all pay our fair share in taxes to contribute to the nation that makes our success possible. (Applause.) That’s not class warfare. That’s not an attack on anybody. That’s just common sense. That’s just fairness. [2]

Let's summarize. Did Obama say "you didn't build that"? Yes, but it clear that he meant, "when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together."  Why is that clear?  He said it three to four sentences later.  

Please provide context.

So no single individual built America on their own. We built it together. We’re one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all -- (applause) -- and with responsibilities to each other as well as to ourselves. And right now, we’ve got to meet those responsibilities in this time of great challenge. [2]