hostility to the federal government. the idea that it is just one big bloated bureaucratic mess that can't perform the simplest task without wasting huge sums of time and taxpayer money, that sentiment runs deep. and it is not just the republican base that has these feelings. a poll earlier this year found 28% of americans, 28%, have a favorable view of the federal government. message that ronald reagan articulated in 1981, had democrats on the defensive for decades. recognition that a lot of americans are in the big picture suspicious of government is what gave rise to the centrist democratic leadership council in the 1980s, which produced the clinton presidency, which produced the defining line of bill clinton's presidency. >> the era of big government is over. >> the public's attitudes toward government are complex. yes, ask them if the federal government is too big and they'll say absolutely. then start asking them about the major programs the federal government oversees, like