Lincoln on Obama...??

"While the people retain their virtue and vigilance, no administration, by any extreme of wickedness or folly, can very seriously injure the government in the short span of four years."

When Lincoln spoke these words, I'm sure that "government"and "nation" were fairly interchangeable in meaning. Nowadays that is perhaps not the case. What advances or injures the government does not necessarily advance or injure the nation. I get Lincoln's point, that a virtuous and vigilant citizenry must keep a wary eye on those charged with its governance, I just wish he had said "nation" because we are not in the 1860s any more, our government is the biggest threat to our nation today. Anyway, that is spliting hairs, the real issue is that virtue and vigilance of which he speaks...do we still have it? Do we??