Editorial: President Discounts U.S. Small Businesses

It’s been a tough week to be an American entrepreneur. President Barack Obama told campaign supporters “if you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that.” At minimum, his off-the-cuff comment devalues the importance of effort, sacrifice, dedication and hard work. And it’s not how it works outside D.C.

Albuquerquean Carlo Lucero, the president of Sparkle Maintenance Inc., employs 400 and says “not a day goes by that (my brother and I) don’t remember the sacrifice that our parents made to start our business while working full-time jobs. … We feel blessed to be able to carry on with the family business, but it requires daily commitment, dedication and sacrifice by our entire team.”

Albuquerquean Cedar McCrary, the owner of CedarFIT Personal Training & Fit Body Boot Camp, employs six and says she “diligently saved money to open my personal training business for 100 percent cash. … I worked 13 to 18 hours per day with no days off for the first 1 1/2 years. … The administration did not help my business at all. Hard work, determination and following a solid business plan did.”

Perhaps Obama was ineloquently trying to dance around the fact the nation’s system of capitalism encourages not only self-reliance but group effort, it takes a village to resuscitate an economy — pick a campaign cliché, any cliché. He told the crowd in Virginia “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.”

He’s right. Those people are American entrepreneurs and workers. And they deserve a government that not only acknowledges but respects and honors their efforts.

This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.