Jed Lewison's post "Romney to Olympians: 'You didn't get here solely on your own'"
Jed concludes the Rmoney is "full of crap," and Jed's right as always. But this particular quote is more than contradictory or hypocritical: it's a privileged, elitist jab at working class Americans.
An athlete arguably deserves MORE credit for his or her own success than does an entrepreneur. Of course I agree generally with the sentiment Rmoney expresses here, I also agree with POB's sentiment (later conceded by Rmoney as well) in re: entrepreneurs and job creators. It's good to acknowledge that no person is an island, sure.
Having said that, coaches and parents aside, who's doing the real work when an athlete achieves? Encouragement, instruction, holding stopwatches, blowing whistles, writing things on clipboards - all very important no question. But who's doing the actual running, jumping, swimming, etc., and making the personal sacrifice of body and time? The athlete.
Ultimately a business capitalizes on publicly-financed infrastructure, and by definition delegates the real work of the business to others. The athlete capitalizes on the support of others - don't forget however that the athletes and/or their families are often paying through the nose for the services of coaches and the use of facilities.
So of course Rmoney sees this angle on the athletes' lot: they're the workers not the entrepreneurs. Of course he wants to make sure the workers acknowledge they aren't all that. Observe that corporations and 1%ers get rich off of infrastructure built and financed by others? You get called a Kenyan Socialist and worse. But bust your hump for basically your entire life to compete among the best of the best in pure athletics? Hey there, buddy, don't get too full of yourself. Think of the highly-paid coaches and the makers of Lycra Spandex. Get back in line, you.
As far as I'm concerned, athletes can tell Rmoney to shove it: whether you medal or not, YOU have acheieved something noble and great - and you DID build that!