You didn't build that

This article is part of a series about Barack Obama
Pre-presidency Early life and career Illinois State Senator 2004 DNC keynote address U.S. Senator from Illinois 2004 election sponsored bills 44th President of the United States Presidency timeline Transition Inaugurations Trips international Policies Economy Energy Foreign policy Arctic Europe East Asia Middle East South Asia Obama Doctrine Pardons Marine Native Social Space Appointments Cabinet Judiciary Sotomayor Kagan Garland Supreme Court candidates First term First 100 days Recovery Act Russia nuclear treaty Affordable Care Act Dodd–Frank Iraq withdrawal Killing of Osama bin Laden 2011 debt-ceiling crisis Libya intervention Afghanistan withdrawal Benghazi attack Second term 2013 debt-ceiling crisis Anti-ISIL campaign Iraq Syria Iran nuclear deal Cuban thaw Sanctions against Russia Selma 50th anniversary speech Paris Agreement Presidential campaigns 2008 primaries convention debates election 2012 primaries convention debates election Post-presidency Planned presidential library Obama Foundation One America Appeal Publications Dreams from My Father The Audacity of Hope A Promised Land Personal Family Public image Honors Others Nobel Peace Prize Tan suit controversy
v t e

"You didn't build that" is a phrase from a 2012 election campaign speech delivered by United States President Barack Obama on July 13, 2012, in Roanoke, Virginia. In the speech, Obama said: "Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you've got a business, you didn't build that."

The sentence "If you've got a business, you didn't build that" was publicized by his political opponents during the 2012 presidential campaign as an attack by Obama on business and entrepreneurs.^[1][2][3] The Obama campaign responded that the criticisms were taking the phrase out of context, and the word "that" in the phrase was referring to the construction of "roads and bridges" in the previous sentence.^[4]

Fact-checking organizations reported that Obama's remarks were incorrectly used out of context to criticize him.^[4][5] The Washington Post commented that his remarks reflected the belief, common among Democrats, that successful citizens owed their success partly to public infrastructure and government spending, and that they should contribute to finance public works.^[6] The Republican Party continued to use the phrase to criticize Obama throughout the 2012 presidential campaign.^[7]