For the last several years, I've been following the president's ongoing pitch for the positive and renewed role of government, and the end to the Reagan notion of "government is the problem" or, for that matter, Bill Clinton's death sentence to the "era of big government." Once again, this president nailed the positive role of government and the renewal of the liberal idea of what it is, and how it ought to function.
As citizens, we understand that America is not about what can be done for us. It’s about what can be done by us, together, through the hard and frustrating but necessary work of self-government. So you see, the election four years ago wasn’t about me. It was about you. My fellow citizens – you were the change.
We choose our government. We change the way things are done. We the people.
He continued with the refrain of "you" -- "you did this" -- in other words, "we the people." We're the government.
You can make that happen. You can choose that future.
You’re the reason there’s a little girl with a heart disorder in Phoenix who’ll get the surgery she needs because an insurance company can’t limit her coverage. You did that.
You’re the reason a young man in Colorado who never thought he’d be able to afford his dream of earning a medical degree is about to get that chance. You made that possible.
You’re the reason a young immigrant who grew up here and went to school here and pledged allegiance to our flag will no longer be deported from the only country she’s ever called home; why selfless soldiers won’t be kicked out of the military because of who they are or who they love; why thousands of families have finally been able to say to the loved ones who served us so bravely: “Welcome home.”
You -- as the chooser of your representative government made a difference for the cause of good.
...those of us who believe government can be a force for good should work harder than anyone to reform it.
That's almost Aaron Sorkin by rote. Specifically this.
And here the president directly addressed the old Reagan quote about government as "the problem."
We don’t think government can solve all our problems. But we don’t think that government is the source of all our problems – any more than are welfare recipients, or corporations, or unions, or immigrants, or gays, or any other group we’re told to blame for our troubles.
It's not the return of "big government" which Bill Clinton declared over in the 1990s, but it's certainly a redefinition of the good that government can do and that all of us compose that often demonized entity.
This might not have felt like the Iowa speech from 2008, but it will be remembered as an historic one because it defined the new Democratic Party -- it defined the composition of government and the significant role it can take in American life. I can only imagine what the president might say when and if he has a shot at a second inaugural.