President Obama Borrows a Rhetorical Device

In his jobs speech, the president won Republican applause when he said: "Some of you sincerely believe that the only solution to our economic challenges is to simply cut most government spending and eliminate most government regulations." He detailed administration efforts to trim outlays and administrative rules. Then he added: "But what we can't do — what I won't do — is let this economic crisis be used as an excuse to wipe out the basic protections that Americans have counted on for decades." Democrats responded with a standing ovation.

Bill Clinton did something similar in his 1996 State of the Union.

We know big Government does not have all the answers. We know there's not a program for every problem. We know, and we have worked to give the American people a smaller, less bureaucratic Government in Washington. And we have to give the American people one that lives within its means. The era of big Government is over.

Republicans cheered. But Democrats cheered even more loudly when he added:

But we cannot go back to the time when our citizens were left to fend for themselves.