5. "You Didn't Build That"
"If youve got a business, you didnt build that. Somebody else made that happen. -Barack Obama, 13 July 2012 In the colossal foot in mouth move that ultimately sold my vote to Mitt Romney in 2012, Obama said these infamous words during a campaign stop in Roanoke, Virginia while ironically delivering a speech about how individual initiative drives innovation. The Republican nominee and Obama's 2012 opponent Mitt Romney, an entrepreneur himself, had this to say:
"To say that Steve Jobs didn't build Apple, that Henry Ford didn't build Ford Motors, that Papa John didn't build Papa John Pizza ... To say something like that, it's not just foolishness. It's insulting to every entrepreneur, every innovator in America."
The blogosphere then exploded with memes taking aim at the gaffe, and the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida carried the theme "We Built It" for its second day. Obama later delivered a half-hearted clarification, if that, saying he "regretted the syntax," but that the point still spoke for itself. Loud and clear, Mr. President. Loud and clear.