Americans have lost faith in government: Obama

US: Many Americans have lost faith in their government, US President Barack Obama admitted Wednesday, tackling a pervasive sentiment hobbling his hopes for enacting sweeping reform.

American suspicion of government was deepening, he said in a speech from the heartland state of Missouri, where he pushed his endangered health reform drive that has been branded by Republicans as a government takeover.

“People have lost faith in government — they had lost faith in government before I ran (for president), and it has been getting worse,” Obama said at a rally in St. Louis.

He quoted his political hero, US Civil War-era president Abraham Lincoln, as saying that the role of government was to do what needed to be done but could not be done by citizens themselves without help.

“That pretty much sums up my attitude,” Obama said.

The president used the trip to roll out a plan to crack down on waste and fraud in federal health programs for the poor and senior citizens as well as other government spending, which he said amounted to billions of dollars per year.

“I don’t accept business as usual... and the American people don’t accept it either,” Obama said, adding the plan would help cut massive long-term deficits casting a shadow over economic recovery hopes.

St Louis, Missouri, AFP