Good Government Comes to Washington

You may have heard the term "good government" bandied about to describe Obama's governing philosophy.  It's a term stemming from political reformers that emerged in the late 19th/early 20th century to counter the corrupt machine politics that dominated so many US cities.  Generally, "goo-goos" advocate for reform that improves government efficiency and accountability.  The platform of Teddy Roosevelt's good government Progressive Party pushed for social welfare legislation, health coverage, income taxes, workers comp and other mechanisms to care for the working- and middle-classes in the U.S.  Critics of good government efforts tend to cite its "highmindedness" or middle-class sensibilities, contrasting that to the harsher realities of the lives of the poor or the back-slapping and palm-greasing that is needed to get work done.

Obama, no doubt influenced by his class and generational position, is a good government type: setting up recovery. gov and appointing a former whistleblower to oversee the stimulus spending in an effort to help us track where the federal dollars are going, and bringing back in the costs of Iraq so we know what the federal deficit really is.  No creative accounting here.

It's refreshing, and that is really how I find his speech from last night.  I just re-read it, and it's inspirational tone is dampened in part by my own skepticism and cynicism.  A sense of relief and pleasant surprise, however, persists.  Here's a guy who believes that "it is only by understanding how we arrived at this moment that we'll be able to lift ourselves out of this predicament."  Wahoo - a teachable moment!  I don't mean for one second to dismiss the severity of what we face economically.  But if there was ever a time to start to roll back the growing inequality of the last 8 30 years, now is the time.  Hell, I'm not working.  I've got time to learn.

What did you think?  My fave bits and analysis after the jump:

I appreciate the acknowledgment of how much we're hurting: "The impact of this recession is real, and it is everywhere."

I appreciate the cataloging of how we've been avoiding making serious long-term investments in ourselves, our neighborhoods and our country, encouraged and spurred on by our government - they are our leaders, we do choose them.  When they tell us to go shopping and give to the poor and fulfill our collective dream of an "ownership society," we do:

we have lived through an era where too often short-term gains were prized over long-term prosperity, where we failed to look beyond the next payment, the next quarter, or the next election.

A surplus became an excuse to transfer wealth to the wealthy instead of an opportunity to invest in our future. Regulations...

(APPLAUSE)

Regulations -- regulations were gutted for the sake of a quick profit at the expense of a healthy market. People bought homes they knew they couldn't afford from banks and lenders who pushed those bad loans anyway. And all the while, critical debates and difficult decisions were put off for some other time on some other day.

Well, that day of reckoning has arrived, and the time to take charge of our future is here.

Then again, with the pointed re-assurance:

the money you've deposited in banks across the country is safe, your insurance is secure.

and some long overdue, absolutely essential promises:

I ask Congress to move quickly on legislation that will finally reform our outdated regulatory system.

And his governing philosophy.  You know, I can get on board the "personal responsibility" train if it's running on the rails of "government responsibility".  What a botched metaphor!

Our job is to govern with a sense of responsibility.

I see [the budget] as a vision for America, as a blueprint for our future.

I reject the view that says our problems will simply take care of themselves, that says government has no role in laying the foundation for our common prosperity, for history tells a different story.

History reminds us that, at every moment of economic upheaval and transformation, this nation has responded with bold action and big ideas.

In the midst of civil war, we laid railroad tracks from one coast to another that spurred commerce and industry.

From the turmoil of the Industrial Revolution came a system of public high schools that prepared our citizens for a new age.

In the wake of war and depression, the G.I. Bill sent a generation to college and created the largest middle-class in history.

(APPLAUSE)

And a twilight struggle for freedom led to a nation of highways, an American on the moon, and an explosion of technology that still shapes our world.

In each case, government didn't supplant private enterprise; it catalyzed private enterprise. It created the conditions for thousands of entrepreneurs and new businesses to adapt and to thrive.

The rest is his domestic agenda.  Poverty was not explicitly addressed (of course), but pay raises and benefits expansion for soldiers and vets, investments in basic research, ending farm subsidies (believe it when I see it), reforming the defense budget (ditto), emphasis on preventative care...these are all terrific details of a big, bold, to-be-worked out agenda.

It seems Americans are on board; is our Congress?

What did you think of the speech??

Photo by Jeff Zeleny, NY Times