when obama says: "the question isn't whether government is big or small, but whether it works," he's saying it's a matter not of big or small but ginormous or hugantuan: in any case omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient, based on infinite cash. it's a matter of merging the government with the economy. what he said literally was that it's not a matter of big or small, but whether it guarantees the lives of every person in every respect: their careers, their health care, their retirement: cradle to grave. the size of the government will double in the next two years. the era of "the era of big government is over" is over, if it ever actually began.