Obama to UAW: America Is 'Not Just About Greed' and 'Trying to Climb to the Very Top

In a speech to the United Auto Workers on Tuesday, President Obama took his biggest step yet toward articulating his own theory of what makes America special. And based on Obama's remarks, that appears to be a commitment to... egalitarianism? CNSNews has the report:

President Obama – in a speech to the United Auto Workers union – said that “trying to climb to the very top” was not what America is “about,” saying that it was “greed” and that in reality “we’re all in it together.”

“America’s not just looking out for yourself, it’s not just about greed, it’s not just about trying to climb to the very top and keep everybody else down,” Obama said at the UAW’s annual National Community Action Program Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C. [...]

“When our assembly lines grind to a halt, we work together, and we get them going again,” he said. “When somebody else falters, we try to give them a hand up, because we know [that] we’re all in it together.”

And here's the video of the President's remarks:

In another portion of the speech, the President attacked what he called the "you-are-on-your-own-philosophy" of his opponents. This is not the first time he has used this phrase to attack Republican economic ideas -- in fact, he used almost the exact same phrase in his acceptance speech at the 2008 Democratic convention to attack the Bush administration:

Out of work? Tough luck, you're on your own. No health care? The market will fix it. You're on your own. Born into poverty? Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps, even if you don't have boots. You are on your own.

The fact that this old chestnut of Obama campaign rhetoric is working its way back into his speeches may be a preview of ways in which the President's election strategy will mirror his strategy in 2008. Will this line work as an attack on Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum or Newt Gingrich? Weigh in below.