coi lo jibni be lo fanmo be li 2012
Ranked second in Politifact's "Lie of the Year" is a Mitt Romney campaign video, which quote-mined Obama as saying:
"If you've got a business, you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen."
The video aimed to make it appear as though Obama was attributing success to the government and not to the people. The quote's actual context:
"If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. 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. Somebody else made that happen."
What he meant by "that" that you didn't build, then, would be "roads and bridges". The pro-noun however *can* technically refer to the business that you've got as well, and the Romney campaign (let alone Fox News) took this anaphoric ambiguity to their advantage.
Had the presidential race taken place in Lojbanistan, would such quote-mining have been possible? Which KOhA would Obama have used for "that"?
mu'o