Politics & Power Quote by John Engler

“Doing what Americans do best” is less a description than a claim on national identity, drafted in the language of pride to win an argument about policy. Engler’s line works because it treats manufacturing not as one sector among many, but as a moral center: the place where “real” value is made. That framing quietly demotes other forms of work - services, care labor, public sector jobs, even much of the knowledge economy - by implication. If manufacturing is what Americans “do best,” then jobs that don’t involve “making” look like second-tier contributions, or worse, symptoms of decline.

The specificity of “more than 14 million Americans” signals credibility and urgency, but it’s also a shield: a statistic that stands in for a coalition. He’s speaking to workers and managers, to communities built around plants, and to politicians who want a clean storyline about jobs you can point to, photograph, and protect. The triplet “making... building... transforming” is classic rhetorical scaffolding, a rhythmic ramp that turns industrial labor into a kind of civic virtue.

Context matters: Engler came of age politically as globalization accelerated and manufacturing employment became a cultural barometer of loss. In that climate, manufacturing isn’t just economics; it’s nostalgia, stability, and masculinity-coded competence, pressed into service as a case for trade policy, deregulation, tax incentives, or reshoring. The subtext isn’t only “manufacturing employs millions.” It’s “manufacturing deserves deference,” and anyone threatening it - foreign competitors, environmental rules, unions (depending on the audience) - is positioned as anti-American.