The Era of Bashing Big Government Is Over

He called for a massive stimulus plan, "not because I believe in bigger government, I don't," but because failing to do so would have "cost more jobs and caused more hardships." But he also promised that his energetic approach to government would continue. In particular, he argued that health care reform was an economic and fiscal necessity, not simply a moral imperative on behalf of the uninsured. Presidential aides said that the new math of health care creates new possibilities, rooted in a new consensus for reform across ideological lines.

The Era of Bashing Big Government Is Over