WASHINGTON (AP) — One major principle of Barack Obama's presidency that his foes love to hate — that government, when it works right, can be best-equipped to aid and protect Americans — is finding fresh currency among some Republicans.

Their doctrine that smaller government is better government is being tested by pressing needs in storm-battered states, security threats that play up the need for a robust defense apparatus and offers for federal funds that are tough to turn down.

To be sure, conservatives looking to pare the government have had their pick of examples to make Obama the poster boy for overreaching, bloated government — think "Obamacare," bailouts, the stimulus, universal pre-kindergarten and environmental regulations, to name a few. The perception that Obama has let government grow out of control has been bolstered in the rocky first few months of his second term by word that the Justice Department was aggressively snooping on reporters in leak investigations and an admission by the IRS that its agents unfairly targeted conservative groups.