President Obama: 'If You've Got a Business -- You Didn't Build That. Somebody Else Made That Happen

The White House has released the transcript of President Obama's recent speech in Roanoke, Virginia, and it holds a number of noteworthy statements.

"Channeling Elizabeth Warren," in the words of Jazz Shaw at Hot Air, Barack Obama said that successful Americans "didn't get there" on their own.

The official transcript relates:

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.  [Emphasis added]

He continued:

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. [Emphasis added]

Watch a clip of the remarks, via C-SPAN (the clip begins with Obama's declaration that we asked the wealthy to pay more taxes during the Clinton administration, and did better for it):

Last September, Elizabeth Warren made made news after she said that "there is nobody in this country who got rich on his own — nobody."  Her speech received wide criticism, and now Barack Obama seems to be saying almost exactly the same thing.

Watch Warren's speech, below, if you don't remember it (skip to around 55 seconds):

Hot Air concludes:

I suppose this is the part where you [Barack Obama] remind them that when you jack up their taxes, it’s really just so you can give that money back to all the other people who actually built their business. But seriously, this is straight off the pages of Elizabeth Warren’s mind bending remarks from early this year. Those came crashing down around her ears, even in some Left leaning circles, so it’s a serious puzzler as to why Barack Obama would try to pick up that ball and run with it. Rather revealing, though.

(H/T: Hot Air)