A Rambling, Incoherent Mess

I don't know if this speech was pre-written and read from a teleprompter or if President's Obama's remarks are extemporaneous.  What I do know is that this argument is poorly constructed.

It has three paragraphs; here's an outline of the argument.

• People aren't successful because they're smart.
• People aren't successful because they work hard.
• Successful people interacted with other people on the way to success.
• Successful people used communal infrastructure on the way to success.
• Example: The government created the internet.
• Successful people are successful because they have individual initiative and they work together.
• Example: Fire fighters work together.

I can't see how this meandering argument can do anything but create an impetus for applause.  Each point seems designed to engender an applause from a mindless audience.  'We work hard, we're smart and we're not very rich!  These rich people owe their success to us! Of course firefighters work together!'

In subsequent posts, I want to dissect this argument point by point.