You can't blame him, I guess - his job is to say whatever pops up on the teleprompter. But we should know better than to let the contradictions go by unchallenged.

But it’s not just here in Asheville.  All across the state, you’ve got highways that need to be built.  You’ve got bridges that need to be fixed.  You’ve got schools that need to be modernized.  (Applause.) 

Ah, that's the president, out on his latest bus tour, touting the idea that since things need to be built, we should be building them, without regard for the deficit and debt.

And that’s what America used to do best.  We used to build things -- built the Transcontinental Railroad; built the Golden Gate Bridge; the Hoover Dam; the Grand Central Station. 

The railroad was completed in 1869, and the last of those projects, the Golden Gate Bridge, opened in 1937. It's been a while since we were so unincumbered by union influence and generalized corruption that we could pull off a project like that without spending a fortune. Consider the Big Dig.

So, anyway, here comes the president's big line:

There’s no reason why we should sit here and watch the best highways and the newest airports being built in China.  We should be building them right here in the United States of America.  (Applause.)  Right here in North Carolina.  (Applause.)

Yup, he actually said we shouldn't let China build all the great things - we should just borrow the money from them so we can have them too!