Lazy? Obama calls Americans ‘hardest-working people on Earth’

Reporting from Bali, Indonesia — Does president Obama believe his countrymen are lazy?

No, he does not.

So he said in his weekly address (see video below), delivered from Bali, Indonesia, where he wrapped up a nine-day tour of the Asian-Pacific.

Americans, he said, are “the hardest-working people on Earth.”

That would seem the kind of benign, throwaway line that speechwriters add without thinking.

Why does it merit a second look?

Some background

Last week, Obama gave an interview at the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Honolulu.

In reply to a question about the need for more investment in the U.S., Obama said, “we’ve gotten a little bit lazy, I think, over the last couple of decades. We’ve kind of taken for granted” that “people will want to come here and we aren’t out there hungry, selling America and trying to attract new business into America.”

Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry released an ad that stripped out the context and zeroed in on the “lazy” part.

“That’s what our president thinks is wrong with America? That Americans are lazy?” says Perry, looking at the camera.

No, he does not.

Apart from praising American work habits, Obama used the address to bet that his constituents will outperform the rest of the world.

“We can compete against anybody – and we can win,” he said.