Obama's Reversal on Hard Work and Smarts

Last night in his big acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention Obama said this:

I’ve worked with business leaders who are bringing jobs back to America -not because our workers make less pay, but because we make betterproducts. Because we work harder and smarter than anyone else.

The tone of this is almost the exact opposite of what Obama said in Roanoke, VA in July. This came right before his “you didn’t build that” line:

I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I wasjust so smart.  There are a lot of smart people out there.  It must bebecause I worked harder than everybody else.  Let me tell you something– there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there.

If he’d said the comment above, about Americans working harder and smarter, instead of the derisive one below about hard work and smarts not being anything special, he’d have a lot fewer small business owners upset with him.