Ahead of President Barack Obama's campaign stop in Charlottesville next week, one vocal group of conservatives is making sure everyone knows it wants him out of office. Thursday, the Jefferson Area Tea Party used one of the president's recent statements to demonstrate why he needs to go.
Set up at the corner of Hydraulic Road and Route 29, Tea Party activist Helen Swift-Dovel says she wants to give Obama a pink slip, partly because of a comment he made just over a month ago.
At a campaign stop in Roanoke on July 13, Obama said, "There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system, that we have, that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you've got a business, you didn't build that."
That last part, where he said "you didn't build that" has conservatives in an uproar.
"What he did was he basically revealed his true opinion of what this economy is all about - government picking winners and losers?" Swift-Dovel said. "No, don't think so."
Signage spelling out things like "Obama you lie" and "November is coming" got Obama supporter Laura Light's attention as she waited at a red light Thursday afternoon.
"I think they're full of crap. Obama's done a great job," she said. "I mean, look what mess he got when he came into office."
Democrats say the quote was taken out of context, that many businesses would never make it if it weren't for public education, government loans, and public roads, but that interpretation is all a matter of perspective.
"It's not the government - it's the community, the taxpayers, the business owners," Swift-Dovel said.
Besides the intersection of Hydraulic and Route 29, protestors also took to Route 29 at Rio Road and the Route 250 Bypass at McIntire Road. Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Obama campaign says the president has cut taxes for small business 18 times and they're proud of his record.
