It didn’t take long for Republicans to attack Barack Obama over his declaration that small-business owners owe their success to government.  The NRCC has a new ad out today titled “He Doesn’t Get It,” which takes the President to task for his statement.  It asks how Americans can trust a man who clearly doesn’t understand the small-business world to fix what ails the American economy:

The Daily Mail points out how big a gift Obama gave the GOP with the assertion that small business owners “didn’t build it” themselves:

The inflammatory campaign speech comments underline the extent to which Obama believes that the state rather than ordinary citizens create jobs and wealth.

They highlight a key contrast with Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican nominee, who is preaching a message of wealth creation by individuals and reinvigorating the private sector.

Andrea Saul, spokeswoman for Romney, told Fox News that the remarks ‘reflect just how unqualified he is to lead us to a real economic recovery’ and were ‘ insulting to the hardworking entrepreneurs, small-business owners, and job creators who are the backbone of our economy.’

A survey of small businesses by the US Chamber of Commerce shows that Obama’s own economic policies haven’t exactly contributed to their success:

Only one in five small businesses (20%) expect to add employees in 2013, according to the poll of 1,225 small business owners, conducted by Harris Interactive. The majority of small businesses say they are likely to keep the same number of employees over the next year – meaning there is likely to be little change in overall unemployment figures.

Following the Supreme Court’s decision on the President’s health care law, only 3% of small business owners report that the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the law will make them more likely to hire new employees. Seventy-two percent said the health care law will make it harder for them to hire.  When asked about the impact, several respondents said they will scale back their workforce to avoid triggering the employer mandate. …

Some additional findings from the survey:

• 78% want government to get out of the way.
• 90% are concerned about the impending fiscal cliff and are worried that Congress will fail to take action to prevent it.
• Nearly 60% say that expiration of the 2001 and 2003 tax rates and other business provisions, coupled with sequestration, will directly impact their business’ growth.

That doesn’t exactly look like a group that believes it needed government to succeed.

Perhaps the President got confused.  He knows a number of big-business operators, many of whom contributed to his campaign in 2008 — and who ended up with taxpayer largesse after his election.  A new ad from the RNC takes a look at one of those cases, Steve Westly, who bundled $500,000 for Obama and got $500 million in taxpayer subsidies afterward:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38_SekieoGw&feature=youtu.be

Clearly, Westly couldn’t have done that without government — or to be more precise, Obama.  Unlike small business owners, Westly made his success the old-fashioned way … investing in a politician.