President Obama Insulted My Dad

Said President Obama today:

“If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that.  Somebody else made that happen.”

My father lost his job as an electrician in 1968, due to cutbacks and his lack of seniority. He then started his own electrical company—out of the trunk of his car. No one helped him. His parents didn’t support him, and in fact, his own father told him he was stupid for even trying. 

Said President Obama today:

“Look, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own… You didn’t get there on your own.  I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something – there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there.”

Obama is right. There are a lot of smart people out there. And a lot of them weren’t as smart as my father, who created one of the most enduring electrical contracting companies in the state of South Carolina from scratch.

Obama is right. There are a lot of hardworking people out there. And many of them didn’t work as hard as my father did to become such a great business success—against all the odds and with little help or outside support.

My Dad is the smartest and most hardworking person I know. It is true that most people can’t become successful without at least some help.

But Dad would not have been a success if he wasn’t Jack Hunter, my father—an individual with unique talent, skills and ambition that many others lack.

My father is the perfect example of the American Dream. His achievements were hard-fought and well earned.

And he did it on his own.