Just days after a video of Mitt Romney was released talking about 47 percent of Americans being ‘dependent on government,’ a video has been leaked from 1998 of President Barack Obama. Romney’s comments came because the 47 percent he was referring to do not pay federal income taxes. The video of Obama, reportedly recorded at Loyola University, was posted to YouTube. It seems as though the thoughts expressed by Obama in the video are much different than the ones expressed by Romney in his video, which was taken at a fundraising event in May. In the Obama video, at the time a senator from Illinois, said:
“The trick is figuring out how do we structure government systems that pool resources and hence facilitate some [wealth] redistribution — because I actually believe in redistribution, at least at a certain level to make sure that everybody’s got a shot.”
It seemed as though Obama’s opinion of redistribution changed 10 years later when he was running his campaign for the presidency in 2008. He was criticized by Republicans when he said the following at a campaign event in Ohio: “When you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.”
A statement has not been released by the Obama campaign or administration about the authenticity of the video.
The edited tape circulated by the Romney campaign is very misleading. It conveniently cut off the segment in which Obama linked the concept of redistribution to competition in the marketplace. The substance of his comment was that in order to encourage innovation and economic competition on the local community level fiscal policies must be adapted to encourage investment and innovation.
Watch the video here: firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/19/13971913-in-rest-of-98-clip-obama-speaks-of-competition-and-the-marketplace#comments