Teachable moments: every week, celebrate a public hero.(Progressivism & The Presidency)

ONE OF THE EMBLEMATIC MOVEMENTS OF THE 1990S WAS an ideologically ambiguous crusade called "Reinventing Government." It took its name from a surprise best-seller by David Osborne and Ted Gaebler. The idea was that we still need government, but we need it to be leaner, more flexible, more adaptive--a more customer-driven government that "steers more and rows less."

This clever mantra had particular appeal for New Democrats, and it was ready-made for Bill Clinton. Reinventing Government allowed moderates to embrace pub lie purpose, but also to posture as ...

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