Obama to Libertarians at SXSW: Weather Forecasts, Roads, Special Forces Reasons to Appreciate Government

Friday in Austin, TX at the SxSW event, President Barack Obana pleaded his case for government, explaining that much of what it offers is sometimes taken for granted.

Among those areas included weather forecasts, roads and special forces keep the country safe.

“Part of it is when government does great things, we tend to take it for granted and it’s not a story,” Obama said. “Every day, government is delivering for everybody in this room, whether you know it or not. I can find the fiercest libertarian in the room, you know, who despises every level of government, thinks it’s all-corrupting. But they’re checking the weather on their phone and lo and behold, there’s a government satellite that is facilitating that. And they’d be really irritated if they couldn’t figure out whether it’s going to be 70 and sunny or 60 and rainy tomorrow. But that’s not reported as government because we just take for granted that of course there are roads and of course we have a geosatellite system. And of course we have special forces who are making sure there aren’t folks who are blowing up our buildings. Part of our task is to tell a better story about what government does.”

Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor

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