GOP Pounces on Obama's 'Lazy' Remark

He was talking about foreign investment, but it doesn't matter
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 16, 2011 6:56 PM CST

Prepare to hear the word "lazy" a lot in future political ads. As Politico notes, Republicans are jumping all over comments President Obama made last weekend in response to a question about the US luring foreign investors. "We’ve been a little bit lazy, I think, over the last couple of decades," said Obama. "We’ve kind of taken for granted—well, people will want to come here and we aren’t out there hungry, selling America and trying to attract new business into America.”

Republicans are making political hay of the "we've been a little bit lazy" part, stripped of the context of foreign investment. Rick Perry is out with a new ad calling the comment "pathetic," notes CNN. (See it in the gallery at left.) Mitt Romney also weighed in (“Sometimes I just don’t think that President Obama understands America"), as have candidates running for Senate, notes Politico. White House supporters are crying foul about being taken out of context, but an anonymous Democratic strategist doesn't blame the Republicans for seizing on the line: “I would bang that drum like I was in Occupy Wall Street,” he said. (More President Obama stories.)

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