Obama's 'You Didn't Build That' Business Comments: Is He Wrong?

President Barack Obama's recent comments about small business created a firestorm that could become a focus of the 2012 election — even as Obama and his supporters say his comments were taken out of context. 

"Look, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own," he said during a July 13 speech in Virginia. "If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help ... If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen."

Take the Patch poll below: Who plays the most significant role in creating jobs and economic growth?

That's not the entire speech, which you can read on the independent FactCheck.org. According to that post, the comments were taken out of context:

"There’s no question Obama inartfully phrased those two sentences, but it’s clear from the context what the president was talking about. He spoke of government — including government-funded education, infrastructure and research — assisting businesses to make what he called 'this unbelievable American system that we have.'"

With small business being the backbone of the local economy in all of our communities, Obama's words and the ensuing discussion have put an emphasis on whose responsibility it is to create jobs and economic growth. According to a recent Gallup poll, only 35 percent of business owners approve of the job the president has done. 

So let's talk. Take the poll below and tell us in the comments: 

• Which has the most valuable impact on a local community: small business, big business, local government or federal government? 
• Are small business owners primarily responsible for the success or failure of their business? 
• Were Obama's comments taken out of context, or do his critics have a fair point?