US President Barack Obama rebutted Mitt Romney's comments that his supporters were victims who were dependent on the government, saying his Republican rival was "writing off a big chunk of the country" by his remarks.
In his first response to the comments by Romney, which he had given at a closed-door fundraiser in Florida in May, Obama said American people work hard to make their ends meet and don't see themselves as victims.
Americans "work hard, you do not meet anybody who does not believe in the American dream and the fact that nobody is entitled to success, you got to work hard," Obama said.
"I promise you there are not a lot of people out there who think they are victims, there are not a lot of people out there who think that they are entitled to something," Obama said in a taping of the "Late Show" with David Letterman here.
Romney faced fresh criticism after the leaked video showed him dismissing Obama's supporters as victims who are too dependent on government.
In the video, Romney tells donors at a fundraiser in the Florida home of private equity executive Marc Leder that 47 per cent of Americans will back Obama no matter what and "my job is not to worry about those people."
He said they were people "who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them."
Obama said it was wrong of Romney to categorise nearly half of Americans as people who saw themselves as victims.
He said Romney was "writing off a big chunk of the country" by his statement.
Obama said in the Letterman show that when he won the 2008 elections, 47 per cent people did not vote for him but for John McCain.
"What I said on election night, even though you did not vote for me, I hear your voices and I am going to work as hard as I can to be your president... One thing I have learned as president is that you represent the entire country."
"My expectation is that if you want to be president, you got to work for everybody, not just for some."
Obama said he meets hard working, family oriented people across America who work hard to send their kids to college or grow a small business.
He said a majority of people, both Democrats and Republicans believe that "we have got some obligation to each other and there is nothing wrong with us giving each other a helping hand," so that students get the help that will enable them to cure "the next diseases and start the next Google."
"That is a good investment for America. If you want to be president and you want to bring people together, that is the attitude you got to have."
Top Section
Explore Business Standard