I’ve been thinking about these comments a lot in the last few days, and I gotta say, I think I get where he’s coming from but I think he’s only partially correct in his line of thought, let me expand on that.

Where he has some valid points: If you built a successful business then you needed the people who worked for you, who supplied your materials, who taught you your skills and business sense, who delivered your product, who built the roads and electrical lines and sewers that supported your business. All of the pieces that are required to run a successful business rely on the input of others to make it happen. Here he is right.

Other valid points: Yes, many people work hard, and yes many people are smart… so why are there more financially successful business people like I believe he’s trying to put down in this comment?

Two sets of factors: ones we have no control over and ones we do…

Factors We Don’t Control: Luck and Natural Opportunity … There is no doubt that some successful people can trace back to one or more events in their lives when luck was in their favor or life presented them with an opportunity that they jumped at. But there lies the key… “that they jumped at”.

Have you ever had the chance to invest your money in something, but didn’t feel good about it so you didn’t and then it took off? I had the opportunity early in my life to invest in Blockbuster Video and thought “eh, it’s just another video store” – WHO KNEW?!? Which leads me to our “Factors we do Control”.

Controlled Factors: Willingness to Take a Risk, Drive (or Desire if you will) and Gumption (Man-made Opportunity) – I submit here that you can look at the majority of financially successful people and look at their work ethics and you’ll see not just smarts and hard work, but also a drive to succeed, a desire to win, a willingness to take that risk to be successful (or fail miserably!) and the personal gumption to go out, knock on doors and create their own opportunities. Personal traits that should be REWARDED for those willing to take those risks and make their own opportunities.

I’m sorry President Obama, but once again we see you only looking at part of the picture and using that information to divide the populace further along classes.

You were supposed to be the president that could pull everyone together, but so much of what you do seems to be bent on alienation and partial facts.

It’s really sad if you stop to think about it.